By Anadolu Agency
Russia will suspend the supply of oil and petroleum products to countries that have agreed to cap prices of Russian oil, Russian Tass News Agency quoted Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak as saying on Thursday.
Novak’s remarks came before a meeting of G-7 finance ministers later Friday to discuss a global price cap on Russian oil to cut the country’s main source of cash and help force down its oil prices.
“As far as price restrictions are concerned, if they impose restrictions on prices, we will simply not supply oil and petroleum products to such companies or states that impose restrictions as we will not work non-competitively,” Novak told reporters.
Novak is critical of the EU’s efforts to cap Russian oil, describing the move as “completely absurd”, while claiming it could destroy the global oil market.
“Interference in the market mechanisms of such an important industry as the oil industry, which is the most important in terms of ensuring the energy security of the whole world, such attempts will only destabilize the oil industry, the oil market,” he said.
The EU has slapped seven sets of sanctions against Russia since Moscow launched a war on Ukraine on Feb. 24.
The packages target, among others, Russian President Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, ban gold, oil, and coal imports, and the export of luxury goods, as well as the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian banks from the SWIFT international payment system.
Russia supports OPEC+ deal
Citing a landmark meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC oil-producing states in December 2016, where the group for the first time agreed to accelerate the stabilization of the global oil market through voluntary production adjustments, Novak said Russia advocates the extension of the OPEC+ deal after 2022.
He added that details of the production pact would most probably be discussed in one of the monthly OPEC+ meetings following next week’s meeting.
He expressed support for the monthly OPEC+ meetings, which, he said, stemmed from “large uncertainties and unpredictability in the market.”
“The cooperation that was achieved in 2016 has shown its effectiveness in various situations. We have very successfully overcome the crisis, the pandemic period of 2020. Therefore, my point of view is that we need to continue such cooperation,” he said.