Aug 3 (Reuters) - The United States remains confident that the Group of Seven's price cap on Russian oil is working to squeeze Moscow's revenues and stabilize energy markets despite a recent upturn in prices, a senior U.S. Treasury official said on Thursday. Van Nostrand said Russian data showed federal government oil revenues were nearly 50% lower in the first half of 2023 than a year earlier, and Russian oil was trading at "a significant discount" to Brent oil. Van Nostrand said the average reported price for Russian Urals had hovered around $60, the level of the price cap, despite widespread expectations that the price would rise in the second half of 2023, and despite recent price increases. Van Nostrand said the cap was continuing to limit Russian revenues, while giving "non-coalition buyers additional leverage to negotiate prices down." Still, Van Nostrand said Washington understood that markets could change rapidly, and Russia would keep trying to evade the price cap.

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Persons: Eric Van Nostrand, Van Nostrand, Washington, Andrea Shalal, Timothy Gardner, David Gregorio Our Organizations: Treasury, Economic, European Union, Russian, Russia's Finance Ministry, Thomson Locations: United States, U.S, Russia, Ukraine, Washington, Australia, Brent, Russian Urals, Saudi Arabia, OPEC, China