The Group of Seven, the European Union and Australia have agreed to impose a price cap of $60 a barrel on Russian crude oil transported by sea, as well as to set a price cap on Russian petroleum products for deprive Moscow of revenue that could support its war against Ukraine.
And the Group of Seven said yesterday, Saturday, at its annual leaders’ summit, that it will step up its efforts to deal with the circumvention of price restrictions, “while avoiding ripple effects and preserving supply. global energy”, without going into details.
Birol told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the summit that the International Energy Agency, which provides analysis and input to the Group of Seven on energy, does not see that the tightening of the price cap will affect the global oil and fuel supply.
He continued: “Any significant changes in the markets we will reflect as usual in our analyzes and reports, but at this time I see no reason to change our analyses.”
Birol believes that the price cap has achieved two main goals, namely not causing a shortage of supply in the market, given the continuous flow of Russian oil, and at the same time reducing Moscow’s income.
“Russia has already played the energy card and failed. But there are gaps and challenges to improve the performance of the oil price cap,” Birol said.
Gas investments
The Group of Seven also supported investments in the gas sector in its statement on Saturday, saying it was a “temporary” solution to deal with potential market shortages while countries try to end dependence on Russian energy imports.
The move alarmed climate activists, who warned the group may not be able to meet the goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and contain temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“The transition to clean energy is happening much faster than many people realize,” Birol said.
Sources said the change in tone came at the invitation of Germany, which was once one of the biggest buyers of Russian gas. The statement did not specify a timetable for investments in the gas sector.
“No deadline has been set, but I think the main problem is related to the dependence of European countries, especially on Russian gas, for almost decades. Now it is not easy to change everything overnight,” Birol said.
“(German) Chancellor Olaf Scholz has made it clear on several occasions that Germany is very keen on achieving the 1.5°C target. And I believe what he says,” he added.
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