As the Russia-Ukraine conflict deepens, oil prices settled around 4% higher on Tuesday after the US banned Russian oil imports and Britain said it will phase them out by end of this year.
As Russia is the second largest exporter of crude oil, the decisions made by the US and the Britain are expected to further disrupt the global energy market.
Global oil prices have seen a more than 30 percent increase since Russia invaded Ukraine and the US and many European nations imposed sanctions on Moscow.
On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden announced a ban on Russian oil and other energy imports.
Today, I’m announcing that the United States is targeting a main artery of Russia’s economy.
We are banning all imports of Russian oil and gas.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 8, 2022
In another blow to the global energy market, Britain said it will phase out the import of Russian oil and oil products by the end of 2022. However, the Britain has given the local energy market and businesses time to find alternatives.
Brent crude futures settled at $127.98 a barrel, 3.9% higher, while US crude futures settled at $123.70 a barrel, a 3.6% increase.
According to statistics, Russia ships 7-8 million barrels of crude and fuel to global markets every day.
Earlier on Tuesday, Shell stopped buying Russian crude and announced phasing out its involvement in all Russian hydrocarbons from oil to natural gas due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Shell has become one of the first major Western oil companies to abandon Russia entirely.
