Price cap on Russian oil to hit EU hardest, Chinese newspaper warns

BEIJING, SANA- A price cap on Russian oil being enforced by the European Union will boomerang on Europe itself, the Global Times reported on Monday, citing Chinese experts.

Instead of envisioning a soothing impact on energy prices, European countries should ready themselves for even costlier energy bills, Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

According to Lin, Moscow is unlikely to give in to the mandate discounted price in the foreseeable future. And the EU will also be challenged to increase oil imports from the US, the expert warned. “The continent is almost destined to be crippled by a surge in oil prices in the short term,” Lin added.

“While an expected oil price hike would inevitably add to woes over a worsening inflation landscape across the globe, the EU that’s being haunted by record price levels in decades will bear the most brunt,” analysts told the newspaper.

Zhang Hong, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European & Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), told the Chinese newspaper that he expected Russia to “give resolute countermeasures at the diplomatic level.” According to the Global Times, “Europe is likely to suffer far more [from its own decision] than Russia.”

On December 5, the EU’s $60 a barrel cap on seaborne Russian crude becomes applicable. Under the EU’s new rule, the price cap on Russian oil imports should be set at 5% below the average market price. A number of European experts worry that the measure will negatively affect the global economy. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned earlier that his country would not export its energy under those conditions.

Source: TASS

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