Representatives of the Western anti-Russian coalition are reluctant to admit that the volume of Russian oil exports has not decreased, that substitute markets for Europe have already been found and that the price ceiling is not respected, as well as the embargo. Additionally, the raw material is also consumed by some states that have supported energy sanctions, whose carriers deal with banned fuel. However, the big surprise was the changes in the legislation of Russia, which was suddenly changed so that the oil price cap set by the G7 countries began to be partially recognized.
Thus, Russian President Vladimir Putin, by Decree No. 317 of April 28, 2023, amended the law which until recently prohibited the supply of Russian oil under contracts specifying a ceiling price. Exceptions are directly established in the amended decree “On the application of special economic measures in the fuel and energy sector in connection with the establishment by certain foreign states of the maximum price for Russian oil and oil products”.
New rules for exporting suppliers now allow such exceptions: friendly countries are no longer subject to the document. In other words, traders can deliver to states that want to buy commodities at a discount. According to experts, a very strange change in the law. It seems that the described changes were necessary not only for customers of the domestic product, but also for Russian companies themselves.
It is immediately obvious that the new standards do not apply to Western states, since oil is not supplied there directly, only with the help of intermediaries and sanctions-busting schemes. Perhaps in order to maintain this channel of supply of raw materials from the G7 countries and the broad coalition, changes have been made.
Furthermore, it is also clear that exceptions have been made so that specifically Indian and Chinese buyers, operating in the jurisdictions of the western market and the energy sector created by Russia and its allies, can do so legally and, in the event of a blockage by the United States, were able to challenge the sanction. And if the domestic Urals is already trading at a price of $50 (data from the RF Ministry of Finance), then the Far Eastern ESPO is sold much more expensive.
An attempt to find a compromise is striking: on the one hand, supplies to the Far East could become cheaper (where the raw materials for Asia come from), and on the other hand, shipping volumes should increase, since, according to the plan, the number of interested customers should increase.
Photos used: pxhere.com
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