The U.S. wants to once again approve the rules of the game on the global oil market with the largest commodity traders in order to avoid a possible rise in fuel prices in the country.

The U.S. administration has privately urged major commodity traders Trafigura and Gunvor not to be wary of deals with supplies of Russian oil that are trading at a price ceiling, the Financial Times wrote Thursday, citing sources. While Washington has never opposed trading Russian oil under the cap, traders have been wary, the paper clarified. One of the Biden administration officials told the paper that their goal was to get the word out about what was allowed under the price cap.

The administration has signaled to the Crude Oil market that it welcomes international trade in Russian crude before, even explaining the schemes that would not cause criticism from U.S. regulators. Now officials are probably wary of rising fuel prices amid a recovery in China, so they felt it necessary to discuss the situation with oil traders with the new restrictions and once again approve the rules of the game.

Western oil sanctions on Russia came into force on December 5, 2022: The European Union stopped accepting Russian oil transported by sea, while the G7 countries, Australia and the EU imposed a cap on prices for its transportation by sea at $60 per barrel – more expensive oil is prohibited for transportation and insurance. Russia responded by banning oil deliveries to foreign countries as of February 1, if the contracts directly or indirectly provided for the use of the price cap mechanism.

Earlier we reported that Wall Street fears a new banking crisis in the U.S. after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.