The Group of 7 countries and the European Union are currently in talks to replace a price cap on Russian oil exports with a full maritime services ban. This is in a bid to reduce the oil revenue that helps finance Russia’s war on Ukraine, as shared by 6 sources familiar with the matter.
Russia is said to be exporting over a third of its oil exports in Western tankers. Most of these tanker movements are to India & China, where they tend to opt for Western shipping services. This intended ban is likely to end that trade, as it’s mostly executed through the fleets of EU maritime countries that include Greece, Cyprus & Malta. This movement is known as the dark or shadow fleet, which is done through a fleet of hundreds of tankers that operate outside Western scrutiny and maritime standards. Russia may now need to consider expanding that fleet of dark or shadow ships if the G7 & EU impose the intended maritime services ban.
This intended ban could be part of the EU’s next package of sanctions against Russia, slated to materialize by early 2026, as shared by 3 of the 6 sources sharing with Reuters. 2 of these sources have shared that the 27-nation EU would like to approve the ban together with a broader G7 agreement. This was before proposing the ban in the package. These sources spoke on terms of anonymity due to the sensitivity of this matter.
Both British & American officials are currently pushing forward the idea in technical G7 meetings, the sources added. Any final U.S. decision would depend on the pressure tactics chosen by President Trump’s team amid ongoing peace talks it is attempting to broker between Ukraine & Russia, said 4 sources.
Both the G7 & the EU have managed to almost fully cut imports of Russian oil during the past 3 years since 2022. This new measure is anticipated to mark the closest they have ever come to imposing a total ban on dealing with Russian crude oil & fuel exports. This prohibition applies not only at the level of imports but also spans across transportation, including maritime services.
The U.S. State Department, the White House, Cyprus’s shipping ministry, the European Commission, Britain’s foreign office, and Canada’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Greek government officials weren’t immediately available for comment.
The G7 has imposed a price cap on Russian crude oil for the last three years, since 2022. This decision followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which aimed to reduce the Kremlin’s income while permitting developing countries to purchase Russian crude oil through Western services, under terms that allowed these buyers to pay Russia less than the established price cap.
In attempting to avoid the cap, Russia rerouted much of its oil to Asia on its own ships. The West has since sanctioned many of these ships. These vessels are apparently old, with their ownership being opaque, besides moving without Western insurance coverage.
The administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden argued that if Russia spent more money on tankers, it would have less money to invest in its sustained war against Ukraine.
However, the Trump administration has been more skeptical about the stipulated price cap. As such, the U.S. declined in its stance of supporting Britain, the EU, and Canada when they agreed to lower the cap on crude from USD 60 per barrel to a mere USD 47.60 a barrel 3 months back in September 2025.
