Joe Biden's administration is seeking to push Russia out of the center of the global energy economy through secondary sanctions and prohibiting foreign buyers from doing business with U.S. or allied companies.

"The Biden administration is looking at various types of secondary sanctions and has yet to settle on a definite course of action," writes The New York Times. Large foreign companies generally comply with U.S. regulations to avoid sanctions if they engage in commerce with American companies or partner nations.

"One measure American officials are discussing would require foreign companies to pay a below-market price for Russian oil — or suffer U.S. sanctions. Washington would assign a price for Russian oil that is well under the global market value, which is currently more than $100 per barrel. Russia’s last budget set a break-even price for its oil above $40. A price cap would reduce Russia’s profits without increasing global energy costs" the authors write.

"The U.S. government could also cut off most Russian access to payments for oil. Washington would do this by issuing a regulation that requires foreign banks dealing in payments to put the money in an escrow account if they want to avoid sanctions. Russia would be able to access the money only to purchase essential goods like food and medicine."