E.U. Fails to Agree to a Price Cap Today
E.U. failed to agree on a price cap of $65 - $75 that is above prices discounted Russian oil is currently trading at.
A price cap above what Russian oil is currently trading at would allow a back door, ship to ship transfers, for Russian oil to enter Europe through exemptions given to Greek shipping to get Greece to agree to the caps.
If an agreement is not reached, that appears unlikely now, embargo of Russian seabourne oil to take effect 5 December would only enter if Russian agrees to the caps.
Russia has said it will not ship to any country supporting caps. It was not stipulated if that is so even if a cap is higher than the current discounted price Russian oil is going for.
In that situation Russia would still be reluctant to have their oil enter into such a price regime because of the political implications of subjecting Russian oil to the dictates of Western nations and divert Russian oil away from Russia's expanded, friendly, Asian customer base.