Putin lord of war meme
  • Decree responding to price cap will be announced in coming days
  • Decision on oil output cuts is not taken yet
  • We will not sell oil to those who proposed price caps
  • We will think about oil output cuts
  • Nothing would remain of any enemy who decides to attack Russia with nuclear arms

Putin has officially put output cuts on the table. WTI crude oil rose to a session high of $72.85 on these comments.

Oil chart

Russia's energy minister said they have three options to respond on the price cap and I suspect those three are sitting on Putin's desk right now. He didn't say what they were but a separate report says they are:

  1. A complete embargo on supplies to those who supported the price cap, even if they buy Russian oil via third countries
  2. A ban on any exports under contract whose terms include the price cap, regardless of the buyer
  3. A price floor set as a discount to brent

Update: here is the video (with english translation) of Putin's comments. To me he doesn't sound too eager to cut output and says the cap "is not really that important" and he says it will be announced in the coming "weeks" not "days" per the Reuters translation however I'm told he did actually say 'days'.