An increase in the rate of export duty charged on crude oil shipped out of Russia in July has helped the Kremlin to ride out a slump in revenue inflow in the first full week of the month. Duty rates increased by 23% between June and July, delivering an additional $1.42 a barrel to the Kremlin on every cargo shipment leaving the country. That boost helped Russia shrug off a 15% drop in crude shipments in the week to July 8, with revenues edging down by just $3M, or 2%. The G7 group is under pressure to find a way to hurt Russia without spiking oil prices. In an attempt to do that, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is pushing a plan to cap Russian oil prices to preserve export volumes while hitting the government’s revenues. As a result, aggregate crude flows from Russian ports were down week-on-week by 555,000 barrels a day, or 15%, with shipments lower from all four of the country’s exporting regions.