EU Races to Avert Automatic Jump in Russian Oil Price Cap by July 15

EU ambassadors met on Friday, July 10, 2026, to try to prevent an automatic six-monthly revision of the G7/EU price cap on Russian seaborne oil. The current cap, confirmed by the European Commission, stands at $44.10 a barrel, but the recent spike in global oil prices following the Strait of Hormuz crisis threatens to push the automatic revision formula to a far higher level. According to Euronews (July 10, 2026), Brussels wants to freeze the cap at $44.10 through January 2027, but Bulgaria has blocked the package over an unrelated sanctions-list dispute. The deadline to avoid the automatic revision is July 15.