US and India discuss oil price

THE United States had constructive talks with Indian officials on a proposal to cap prices of Russian oil, US deputy treasury secretary Wally Adeyemo said last Friday (26), as it seeks support for a proposal to cut Russian revenue.

India and China have stepped up oil purchases from Russia after the Ukraine invasion at a discount to the market price, at a time Western sanctions have pushed global inflation to the highest levels in years and hurt revenues of European and American companies linked to Russia’s oil trade.

“I had a very constructive conversation with my Indian counterparts about the price cap proposal, but also talked extensively with private sector participants in India as well,” Adeyemo told reporters in New Delhi last Friday.

The Group of Seven richest economies aim to have a price-capping mechanism on Russian oil exports in place by December 5, when European Union sanctions banning seaborne imports of Russian crude come into force.

The proposal to cap prices of Russian oil is aimed at curbing the oil revenue Moscow uses to finance the Ukraine war, while ensuring sufficient global supply at affordable prices, Adeyemo said.

“We are very concerned that come December 5 ... we will be in a place where access to Russian crude will diminish for the world and would potentially lead to higher prices,” he said.

Asked if the United States was concerned by Indian companies’ usage of currencies other than the dollar to settle trades with Russia, Adeyemo said the United States was “indifferent” to the currency

used to pay for energy.