Crude Oil surges, latest news from Russia-Ukraine war: Oil prices surged to the highest level in 14 years heading to $130/bbl as US threatens to ban Russian crude oil imports. Russia is the second largest exporter of oil globally after Saudi Arabia.
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“We are now talking to our European partners and allies to look in a coordinated way at the prospect of banning the import of Russian oil, while making sure that there is still an appropriate supply of oil on world markets,” Anthony Blinken, US Secretary of State said, “That’s a very active discussion as we speak.”
After Russia invaded Ukraine, the White House slapped sanctions on exports of technologies to Russia's refineries and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which has never launched.
The United States imported more than 20.4 million barrels of crude and refined products a month on average in 2021 from Russia, about 8% of U.S. liquid fuel imports, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). For EU this number is even higher.
So far, it has stopped short of targeting Russia's oil and gas exports as the Biden administration and EU weighs the impact on consumers. Gas prices in US have already topped the highest level since 2008.