The United States continues to seek ways to cut Russia’s oil revenues, with poor global oil demand setting the stage for additional sanctions, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Reuters.
There are a number of possibilities here. We don’t preview sanctions, but we’re always looking at oil revenues and if we can find ways to further impair Russian oil revenues, that would, I think, strengthen Ukraine’s hand. That remains on our list.
Washington is tightening its sanctions policy against Russia for its war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Moscow continued to use ships to circumvent oil price restrictions, Yellen said.
Now what’s unusual about this moment is that the oil market seems to be well supplied. Prices are relatively low. Global demand is down, and there really has been an increase in supply.
A softer global oil market allows the US to consider further restrictions against Russian crude to affect the Ukrainian conflict. Moreover, the Treasury Department said on Tuesday that the US share of a $50-billion G7 loan to Ukraine had been transferred to a World Bank intermediary fund.
The payment was part of an October pledge to provide aid backed by frozen Russian assets. Some countries, such as Britain, Canada and Japan, also announced small loans to their ally Ukraine.
