At the moment, Moscow sees no interest from the US in taking its interests into account, while Washington is trying to push Russia out of all energy markets.
This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to OTR.
„They are pushing us out of all world energy markets. Then we will only have our own territory. If the Americans come to us, we are for cooperation with them in order to implement mutually beneficial projects on our territory and provide the Americans with what they are interested in, taking into account our interests. We do not see this yet“, the minister said.
The United States “welcomed and welcomes Russia's marginalization in European energy markets“, Lavrov added. According to him, this constitutes an “open assertion of energy dominance throughout the world, in all regions“.
Lavrov called this situation, a return to “a time when there were no frameworks for international relations“, unusual.
“It was stated directly – the interests of the United States prevail over any international agreements“, the foreign minister concluded.
The United States, like Russia, is a major oil exporter and also sells shale gas. Against the backdrop of escalation in the Middle East and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran due to the US-Israeli operation, world energy prices have risen sharply.
Against this backdrop, Washington has eased sanctions on Russian oil. The Kremlin attributed this to the desire to stabilize energy markets. Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian president’s special representative for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said the easing of sanctions would affect approximately 100 million barrels of oil. He saw Washington’s decision as a recognition of Moscow’s importance in the global energy market. The US sanctions were imposed on Russia’s largest oil companies – LUKOIL and Rosneft.
Amid rising Brent benchmark prices, the price of US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also rose. Liquefied natural gas prices also rose sharply. Bloomberg noted that Brent prices have significantly outperformed WTI, the US benchmark. US efforts to rein in oil prices, including the release of strategic reserves, have led to the widening of WTI’s discount to Brent to approximately $13 per barrel. Under current conditions, Brent could rise by about 4% this week, while WTI is likely to fall by 5%, the agency said yesterday.
The United States has increased supplies of WTI crude oil to Europe amid rising energy prices, Reuters reported, citing experts. The Financial Times earlier reported that the United States could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of rising energy prices.