The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Executive Director, Fatih Birol, stated at the Singapore International Energy Week on Tuesday that even with the proposed price cap, the world’s oil market will still require Russian oil to flow. There are still a lot of specifics to work out about the price cap that the G7 has advocated and pressed to maintain Russian oil flow at prices below market rates.

The most industrialised G7 nations agreed last month to complete and put into effect a restriction on the price of Russian oil to lessen Vladimir Putin’s reliance on oil profits. The G7 will forbid the provision of sea transportation services for Russian oil unless a certain price cap is met.

After agreeing earlier this month to impose a new set of sanctions on Russia, including preventing the marine transfer of Russian oil to third-party nations unless the oil is sold below or at a specific price ceiling, ambassadors from the European Union supported the price cap as well.

Because top importers China and India haven’t agreed to the price cap and because Putin could easily follow through on his threat to cut off all energy supply, including crude, fuels, natural gas, and coal, to the countries that agree to it, many analysts and experts are sceptical that the price cap would achieve its dual goals of reducing Putin’s revenues while maintaining the flow of Russian oil.