Yellen was speaking with media on her trip to Africa.
- Yellen said the the US Treasury estimates that the G7-led price cap on Russian crude oil and refined products to limit Russia's revenues could save the 17 largest net oil-importing African countries $6 billion annually
- said two separate price caps on Russian refined petroleum products, such as diesel and fuel oil, that are due to take effect on February 5 along with a European Union ban on diesel imports
- one will cover high-value products typically sold at a premium to crude, while another will apply to low-value products like fuel oil
- Yellen said setting the new price caps had proven "more complicated" than for crude, given the range of different refined products and price structures, and the importance of ensuring continued supplies of Russian diesel to the market
Info comes via Reuters.
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The Western ban on Russian oil has seen less developed markets being supplied with Russian oil at prices lower than western markets are paying. This supply of cheap Russian oil has freed up other supply for Western markets.
Russia is bitching about the price cap and the negative hit to revenue, but that's the point.
Oil has steadied in price the past week or so but the supply impacts have contributed to oil prices dropping rapidly from their high levels of 2022:
