- Russia is considering slashing its oil production in response to the Western price cap, Vladimir Putin said on Friday.
- The Russian president also said Moscow wouldn’t be financially affected by the price cap, calling the mechanism “stupid.”
- If Russia cuts output, it could spur volatility and send crude prices higher, experts have warned.
Russia will consider slashing its oil output in retaliation to the G7 and European Union’s price cap, according to President Vladimir Putin.
“We will think, maybe even about the possible, if necessary … reduction in production,” he said at a press event on Friday.
Putin added that Russia’s finances wouldn’t be hit by the new measures and the West’s implementation of a price cap was “stupid,” Reuters reported. He also warned energy prices would “skyrocket” for any countries that participated in the price cap.
The defiant remarks come after Russia’s central bank warned that the price cap and latest round of sanctions were “economic shocks” to the nation.
On Monday, the EU’s embargo on seaborne Russian oil imports took effect, along with a $60-a-barrel price cap on Moscow’s crude that is meant to prevent a supply shock and limit Putin’s energy revenue.
Companies that abide by the price cap will be able to use European shipping and insurance services to send oil to Asia, where some countries have been snapping up Russian oil at hefty discounts since the invasion of Ukraine.
But Russia reducing its oil production could rock energy markets, experts have warned, worsening the supply shortage and hiking crude prices even higher. That scenario could cause oil prices to surge as high as $380 a barrel, JPMorgan previously predicted, though Russia is also reportedly considering a price floor.
Meanwhile, there have already been shipping disruptions as a result of the EU sanctions. Oil tankers have piled up off the coast of Turkey as ships were asked for proof of insurance coverage.
