Washington:

Two senior U.S. Treasury officials are in India urging New Delhi to keep an oil price cap in place aimed at limiting Russian profits while promoting stability in global energy markets, an official statement said.

Anna Morris, acting assistant secretary for counterterrorism financing, and Eric Van Nostrand, PDO assistant secretary for economic policy, said in a statement Wednesday that the U.S. Treasury Department Will travel to New Delhi and Mumbai from April 2 to 5 to meet with government and private sector counterparts.

“They will discuss key bilateral issues, including anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing cooperation, other illicit finance issues, and the continued implementation of price caps designed to further limit Russia’s profits from financing its illicit incursions while promoting stability in global energy markets “, the report said.

After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, G7 countries, the European Union and Australia jointly implemented price caps. The cap prohibits tankers transporting Russian oil priced at $60 a barrel or above from using Western maritime services, including insurance, flagging and transportation.

In 2023, Russia will become India’s largest oil supplier. India has strong economic and defense ties with Russia and has not criticized Moscow over its war with Ukraine.

Morris and Nostrand will comment on the price cap on Thursday and participate in a question-and-answer event hosted by the Ananta Aspen Center in New Delhi.

As Morris and Nostrand noted in a blog post last month, the Phase 2 price cap continues to achieve its dual goals: limiting Russian oil profits while supporting energy market stability, the statement said.

“Russian oil sales prices have fallen significantly since the start of Phase 2; this shift reflects the impact of lower global oil prices during this period, but also reflects a significantly wider discount received by Russia relative to other global oil suppliers.” it says.

Energy market participants, analysts and even Russian President Vladimir Putin’s own oil czar have linked the increase in Russian oil discounts to the coalition’s stepped-up enforcement activity reflected in the second phase of price caps – clear There is evidence that phase two is working. explain.

“Price caps help maintain stable energy supplies for consumers and businesses around the world and provide major importing countries such as India with more leverage to drive deeper bargains. At the same time, price caps are being reduced along with key sanctions enforcement measures Putin makes profits from selling oil,” it said.

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