Today, Friday, the Group of Seven industrialized countries pledged to impose a ceiling on the price of Russian oil.

During a remote meeting they held today, the finance ministers of the Group of Seven (America, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan) announced that their countries would "urgently" set a ceiling for the price of Russian oil.

A statement issued by the ministerial meeting stated that "the price ceiling will be set at a level based on a series of technical data, and the coalition will decide as a whole before putting it into practice."

The statement also stated that prices in the future "will be publicly determined in a clear and transparent manner."

The meeting of the finance ministers of the seven countries comes at a time when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a proposal to set a ceiling for gas prices at the European level, as part of a new package of sanctions against Russia.

Von der Leyen said EU gas storage had reached the 80% threshold earlier than expected.

In Washington, DC, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said a G7 decision on energy prices would deal a financial blow to Russia that would hamper its war in Ukraine.

On the other hand, Russia was quick to warn of the consequences of imposing a ceiling on the prices of its energy exports to Europe and other regions.


stop exports

In Moscow, the Kremlin said that setting a ceiling on the price of oil would lead to great tension in the global energy market, adding that the state would stop selling oil to countries that set a ceiling on Russian oil prices.

Commenting on European efforts to set a ceiling on the price of oil, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Russian National Security Council, said that there would be no Russian gas in Europe.

In the same context, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that European countries have two solutions to the energy crisis: the first by abolishing sanctions against Russia and inaugurating the "Nord Stream-2" pipeline, and the second by keeping the situation as it is, which will complicate the lives of Europeans, stressing However, energy security in Europe without Russia is impossible.

European Union countries are seeking to gradually reduce Russian oil supplies to completely stop them at the end of this year, while the United States banned its import last May.

Last June, the European Union approved a gradual embargo on Russian oil, specifically providing for stopping European imports from it by sea within 6 months.

And the International Energy Agency estimated that Russia's revenues from its oil exports increased, last June, by 700 million dollars, compared to May, due to the increase in prices.

Before Moscow began its war on Ukraine on February 24, Europe was the destination for nearly half of Russia's exports of crude oil and petroleum products, according to the International Energy Agency.

Yesterday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suggested that his country would get through the winter without a crisis even if Russia stopped its gas supplies.

For its part, the French presidency reported that President Emmanuel Macron is holding a meeting of the Defense Council to discuss the energy crisis in light of the current volatility.


gas prices

Meanwhile, European natural gas prices fell to the lowest level in a month due to factors including the increase in the volume of its stocks, the efforts of the European Union countries to reduce consumption, in addition to the anticipation of the resumption of the Nord Stream-1 gas pipeline.

The increase in gas supplies from Norway and imports of liquefied gas also contributed to the decrease in prices.

Contracts are trading down more than a third at €200 per megawatt-hour, compared to around €340 late last month.

But prices are still 4 times higher than last year.

Citi bank data shows that the European Union's consumption of natural gas fell 12%, last month, compared to the same month in 2021.