Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

EU agrees $60 price cap on Russian oil

EU agrees $60 price cap on Russian oil

Last hold out Poland agrees to a deal designed to cut Putin’s oil income while avoiding a spike in prices.
European Union countries have agreed to put a cap on Russian oil prices of $60 per barrel, bringing an end to days of arguments over how hard to hit Vladimir Putin's fossil fuel revenues.

According to EU diplomats, a deal was struck on Friday after Poland, which had been holding out for a harsher cap, came on board.

Under the agreement, countries will ban their insurance and shipping firms from facilitating Russian oil shipments to third countries if they are sold above the capped price.

The system will be reviewed every two months, one of the diplomats said. The aim is for the cap to be set at a level which is at least 5 percent below the market price for Russian crude during the review process, the diplomat added.

The EU plan was drawn up following a proposal from the G7 leading democracies to cap the price paid for Russian oil and is now expected to be implemented widely.

"The EU agreement on an oil price cap, coordinated with G7 and others, will reduce Russia’s revenues significantly," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. "It will help us stabilize global energy prices, benefitting emerging economies around the world."

The key question now is how Russia responds.

The $60 price is higher than the level at which Russia currently sells its crude oil — which is trading at a discount to benchmark prices. That gives Putin room to dismiss the West's move as meaningless. He has threatened to cut production, which could drive up global oil prices, and to not supply countries that sign up to the cap.

EU sanctions coming into force from Monday will ban seaborne imports of Russian oil. The sanctions package also contained a ban on shipping insurance for tankers transporting Russian oil around the world but the price cap would override this, lessening the disruption to markets.

There had been fears that the EU sanctions would trigger a surge in oil prices if shipping insurance had been unavailable. As talks dragged on among EU countries in Brussels, the U.S., which first proposed the cap, intervened in an attempt to break the deadlock. Poland also secured a commitment from Brussels to begin work on a new package of sanctions against Moscow.

Poland, Estonia and Lithuania had been leading demands for a harsher cap to cause maximum damage to Putin's war chest.

"I welcome the EU's political agreement on setting a price cap on Russian oil," Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said on Twitter. "Crippling Russia's energy revenues is at the core of stopping Russia's war machine."

She added that Estonia had been hoping for a cap in the range of $30 to $40 a barrel, which "would substantially hurt Russia."

"However, this is the best compromise we could get today," she said. "We will have the first review of the price already in mid-January."
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×