Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, the US, Europe, and other G7 nations imposed the most extensive sanctions and trade restrictions on Moscow to paralyze, then collapse, President Vladimir Putin’s oil/gas industry that funds the war machine. However, over two years later, these Western sanctions have royally and embarrassingly backfired, with Russia’s economy steadily growing. 

On Tuesday, US Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt told Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin that Washington will “drive down the down the revenues which Russia enjoys from its oil and gas resources, which go to pay for a brutal and unprovoked invasion against Ukraine. Our price cap policy was designed to avoid disruptions of global crude oil supply, which would cause a spike in prices, which would mean that Russia would get even more revenue for its oil exports. So we’re looking to ensure stability in global supplies while at the same time driving down Russia’s revenues.” 

Pyatt continued:

India has been an excellent partner in the implementation of that policy, specifically through the work that India has done in order to encourage its companies, its purchasers of Russian crude oil, to do so within the framework of the price cap rules.

As Minister Puri says, and he said this directly to me, this the tougher you Americans are on the enforcement of the price cap, working with your G7 colleagues, the better the price I will get for the crude oil that I need to buy to drive the Indian economy. So our goals are convergent. I would also note in this regard the very clear messages that Minister Puri and the Indian government have delivered on the question of Russian gas exports, which is the other side of the equation.

And a lot of the work that my team has led on the enforcement of our sanctions against future Russian energy products, projects like Arctic LNG two where Minister Puri and the Indian Government have been clear that they are not going to engage in that market either.”

Bloomberg’s Amin asked: “We have India buying Russian oil, we have China buying sanctioned Russian LNG … Are you considering retaliatory measures perhaps on China on the back of that?” 

Pyatt responded: 

So let me talk about the LNG sanctions in particular, because I think it’s important to understand what’s happening here. Our goal on our LNG sanctions is to ensure that Novatek in particular is not able to take the gas that Gazprom used to send to Europe through pipeline exports and requesting that gas to global markets.

We’ve been particularly focused on the Kremlin’s flagship project, which is Arctic LNG two …  you’ve seen a very aggressive program of Western sanctions against Arctic LNG two … against ships that load from Arctic LNG to against the technology providers that are provided equipment to facilitate that project.

So far, and I haven’t checked this morning’s news, but as of yesterday, not one cargo loaded by Arctic LNG two has found an international market. So our policy is working. It’s working because we’re coordinating very, very closely with our partners across the G7 and in ports that are potential destinations for those cargoes.

I can’t speculate on future sanctions actions, but what I can tell you is that we’re paying very, very close attention to where sanctioned Russian cargoes are heading. And you can be assured that the Biden administration is going to continue to tighten the screws against Russia’s LNG exports because that is a key source of the revenues that Putin uses to carry forward his war.

Here’s the interview:

In markets, European NatGas prices edged above €40 a megawatt-hour on near-term supply risks from tensions in the Middle East to production outages in Norway. 

Western elites are tightening the screws on a nuclear power in an attempt to cause an economic collapse in Moscow. What could possibly go wrong here?