Month: July 2022

The world’s seven-largest industrialized economies have floated the idea of a price cap on Russian oil to further squeeze the Kremlin’s ability to fund its onslaught in Ukraine and try to protect consumers amid surging energy prices. The G-7′s pursuit of a price ceiling on Russian oil is not without its challenges, however, with energy analysts highly skeptical about the integrity of the proposal. For its part, the Kremlin has warned any attempt to impose a price cap on Russian oil will cause more harm than good. How the idea…

Policy makers are often keen to glance at old documents; these archives help them identify two major indicators of progress and bottlenecks. A glance at a published USAID report of 1982 states: “Although Pakistani exports have increased over the years, the country continues to suffer from chronic trade deficits, and it remains heavily dependent on imported petroleum products.” In 2022, this is grim reading for policy enthusiasts– no progress. Nothing seems to have changed except for the year. Considering this predicament, the recent Russian-fueled war in Ukraine has come at…

The world’s largest crude oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, continues to keep close ties with Russia while the top oil consumer, the United States, pleads with major producers—including the Kingdom—to boost supply to the market and help ease consumers’ pain at the pump. While the U.S. and its Western allies are sanctioning Moscow and banning oil imports from Russia, U.S. President Joe Biden is also turning to Saudi Arabia to ask it to pump more oil as Americans pay on average $5 a gallon for gasoline. The Saudis prefer to keep…