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Gas price cap will not lead to anything good — Putin

The Russian leader added that the price cap for Russian oil may lead to the disintegration of the world’s energy sector and skyrocketing prices

MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. The introduction of a price cap on natural gas will not lead to anything good, this measure is similar to a price cap on oil, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference on Thursday.

"As I understand it, this is similar. Another attempt at administrative regulation of prices. It will not lead to anything good in the gas or oil sector," he said.

The president noted that some foreign partners acted in a surprising way with their unprofessional decisions on pricing for this type of fuel. Putin recalled that Russia had warned of a possible surge in gas prices when switching to spot prices pegging, which they are now trying to regulate by introducing a price cap. "The gas market does not work this way. This will lead to serious consequences, to a surge in prices. This is what we have now. Now they don’t know how to get out of it, and they are trying to regulate gas prices as well," Putin said.

He added that the price cap for Russian oil may lead to the disintegration of the world’s energy sector and skyrocketing prices. "This is a road in direction of global energy sector’s disintegration. Time may come when the sector with insufficient investments will stop providing the market with the required volume of products. Prices will skyrocket then and will painfully hit those attempting to implement such instruments," the head of state said

The oil price ceiling is a non-market instrument, Putin added.

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