Deputy Prime Minister and OPEC+ envoy Alexander Novak drove home the official line that sanctions make Russia stronger when he said in October, referring to the redirection of exports, "the main consumption of energy resources will in future be in [the Asia-Pacific] region... We would have to do this anyway. We just sped up a bit."

The US placed Arctic LNG 2 under direct sanctions in November, in effect blocking its allies from buying the project’s gas when it starts production. The move followed an EU ban on the transfer of LNG-related technology to Russia in April 2022, two months after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

At the start of the month,we saw #Crudeoil longs data jump 17%, partly offsetting wrong-footed sales the previous week.Russia stated that the cut of 500k b/d to meet the quota expectations for the month of February as part of a package of cuts promised by the OPEC+.

The International Working Group on Russian Sanctions aims to provide expertise and experience to governments and companies around the world by assisting with the formulation of sanctions proposals that will increase the cost to Russia of invading Ukraine

"Oil prices at $80 is extremely comfortable for Russia," she said. "Maybe at $60-$70 it starts feeling the pinch, but we cannot start talking about crisis if Russia is selling oil at $60 or above."

JOGMEC's fulfillment of the loan guarantee, however, does not mean the end of JARC's participation with a 10% stake in the Arctic LNG 2 project, a JOGMEC official said Feb. 5, adding that the relevant Japanese parties will carefully respond while ascertaining sanctions developments.

Naphtha and fuel oil are loaded onto Clearocean Apollon Clyde Noble tankers at the nearby Ust-Luga Oil terminal.

In the last few months of 2023, the US ramped up enforcement of the price cap and imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on entities and ships that carried Russian crude oil above the price cap.

Russia has delivered the first drop of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its heavily sanctioned flagship project, Arctic LNG-2.

The US Treasury Department announced the steps Wednesday, including sanctions on Bellatrix Energy Ltd., a Hong Kong-based firm among the shadowy traders that emerged to help Russia keep its oil exports flowing.

Russia’s Novatek PJSC, which leads the Arctic LNG 2 project, sent force majeure notices to some of the facility’s buyers,

Ministers from OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, meet on Sunday in Vienna.

The European Commission hopes to introduce a "requirement for attestations to also include itemized ancillary costs, such as insurance and freight," on top of a declaration on the price paid for the Russian oil.

Still, the trade has become a headache for Germany, which has explicitly said it won’t use gas from Russia in the fallout of the war in Ukraine. Berlin is facing sharp criticism over concerns that a government-run company still has ties to Moscow, despite its political rhetoric.

The G7, the European Union and Australia imposed the $60 per barrel cap last December on sea-borne exports of Russian crude in retaliation for Russia’s war on Ukraine.