The Group of Seven countries and the European Union are in talks to replace a price cap on Russian oil exports with a full maritime services ban in a bid to reduce the oil revenue that helps finance Russia’s war in Ukraine, six sources familiar with the matter said.

Russia exports over a third of its oil in Western tankers – mostly to India and China – with the use of Western shipping services. The ban would end that trade, which is mostly done through the fleets of EU maritime countries including Greece, Cyprus and Malta.

The other two thirds of exported Russian oil goes out in a fleet of hundreds of tankersoperating outside Western scrutiny and maritime standards, known as the dark or shadow fleet. Russia would need to expand that fleet if the G7 and the EU impose the maritime services ban.

The ban could be part of the EU’s next package of sanctions against Russia, slated for early 2026, three out of the six sources told Reuters. The 27-nation EU would like to approve the ban together with a broader G7 agreement before proposing the ban in the package, two of the six sources said.

The sources declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

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