The US is preparing to crack down on evasion of its crippling sanctions on Russia's oil sector in an effort to shore up a new, weakened price-fixing regime.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in an interview that the United States is likely to take steps to enforce the $60-a-barrel price limit the U.S. and its partners have imposed on Russian oil sales.
Russia has for weeks managed to sell its crude above the $60 a barrel limit, with the benchmark price briefly rising to $85 a barrel in late September, raising questions about whether companies were violating the price cap. The price of refined products such as diesel is also above the upper limit in Western countries. The US is preparing to crack down on evasion of its crippling sanctions on Russia's oil sector in an effort to shore up a new, weakened price-fixing regime.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in an interview that the United States is likely to take steps to enforce the $60-a-barrel price limit the U.S. and its partners have imposed on Russian oil sales.
Russia has for weeks managed to sell its crude above the $60 a barrel limit, with the benchmark price briefly rising to $85 a barrel in late September, raising questions about whether companies were violating the price cap. The price of refined products such as diesel is also above the upper limit in Western countries.
Speaking to The Wall Street Journal on board an Air Force plane en route to World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Marrakesh, Morocco, Ms Yellen said: "We are watching enforcement very carefully and we want to make sure that market participants are aware that we are serious about this price cap and, in terms of using Western services, we are serious about complying with this cap." She did not specify any specific enforcement actions.