USA

U.S. Treasury’s Yellen says oil prices could spike in winter

cde.news desk 12 September 2022, 08:45 · 1 min read

epa09493305 US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies during a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on the CARES Act, at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, USA, 28 September 2021. The hearing examined the effects and results of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES ACT. EPA-EFE/KEVIN DIETSCH / POOL

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Americans could experience a spike in gas prices in the winter when the European Union significantly cuts back on buying Russian oil, adding that a proposed Western price cap on Russia’s oil exports is being designed to keep prices in check.

“It’s a risk, and it’s a risk that we’re working on the price cap to try to address,” Yellen told CNN.

The possible price increase could come because the EU “will cease for the most part buying Russian oil” and impose a ban on services that allow Russia to ship oil by tanker, she said.

The price cap plan agreed to by G7 wealthy nations calls for participating countries to deny insurance, finance, brokering, navigation and other services to oil cargoes priced above a yet-to-be-determined price cap on crude and oil products.

Yellen said the price cap is aimed at lowering revenue Russia could use to wage war in Ukraine while maintaining Russian oil supplies to keep global prices down.

(Reporting by Katharine Jackson Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Photo – US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. EPA-EFE/KEVIN DIETSCH / POOL