The EU is exploring emergency interventions to its maritime trade restrictions, moving to temporarily freeze the price cap on Russian crude oil to prevent global energy market disruptions from handing an unintended financial windfall to the Kremlin, Bloomberg reported.
Last year, the EU established a dynamic, automatic mechanism designed to continuously squeeze Russian oil revenues. The rule mandates that every six months, the price cap must be recalculated and legally set exactly 15% below the prevailing average market price of Russia’s benchmark Urals crude.
The current price ceiling is fixed at $44.10 per barrel, with the next formal adjustment scheduled for late summer. Under this restriction, European maritime firms are legally barred from providing vital logistics, shipping, or insurance services for any vessel carrying Russian oil sold above the threshold.
However, the war in Iran and the physical closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz have induced severe instability across global energy networks, causing international crude prices to skyrocket.