Russia has sold nearly all its oil well above the West's price cap

Moscow: Russia has succeeded in selling almost all of its oil well above a Western-imposed price cap of $60 per barrel, a Russian government official said on Thursday.

The European Union, G7 countries and Australia introduced the price cap on Russian oil last December, aiming to curb Russia's ability to finance the conflict in Ukraine.

"Even unfriendly countries note that the so-called price cap has not worked. More than 99 per cent of oil traded well above the $60 per barrel ceiling," Vladimir Furgalsky, a Russian Energy Ministry official, told a round table discussion at the upper house of parliament.

Russia was forced to cut exports of oil and oil products immediately after the price cap was introduced as it struggled to find enough ships to transport all of its output.

But it then managed to place most of its exports with domestic or non-Western foreign shippers, which do not require Western insurance coverage.