US sanctions are already reducing Russia's oil revenues

The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control said that an analysis of the initial impact of the sanctions announced on October 22 showed that they are having the desired effect of reducing Russia's revenues by lowering the price of Russian oil and, consequently, the country's ability to finance military operations against Ukraine, Reuters reports.

The OFAC analysis showed that several major Russian oil grades were selling at their lowest prices in recent years and noted that nearly a dozen major Indian and Chinese buyers of Russian oil had announced their intention to suspend purchases of Russian oil with December deliveries.

LSEG Workspace data from Monday showed that benchmark Urals crude loaded in Novorossiysk traded at $45.35 per barrel on November 12, the lowest level since March 2023.

At that time, Russia was just beginning to assemble a “shadow fleet” of tankers to avoid the G7's $60 per barrel price cap, which was introduced in December 2023.

The US sanctions imposed in October set a deadline of November 21 for companies to cease cooperation with Rosneft and Lukoil.

Violators may be cut off from the dollar-based financial system.

The two largest buyers of Russian oil are China and India.

Photo: Channel 24.