US President Joe Biden signed a corresponding decree on Tuesday. “This means that Russian oil will no longer be accepted in US ports and the Americans will deal another serious blow to Putin’s war machine,” Biden said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Great Britain wants to reduce its oil imports from Russia by the end of 2022 and then stop importing oil from there.
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Biden said at a short-term appearance in the White House that the import ban had been coordinated with Congress and European allies. But we know “that many of our European allies and partners may not be able to join us.” He added: “We are working closely with Europe and our partners to develop a long-term strategy that will also reduce their dependence on Russian energy.” Oil prices rose after the announced import ban.
A high-ranking US government official said that the import ban would ban new supply contracts with immediate effect, and that a transitional period of 45 days would apply to old contracts. Biden’s injunction also bans US citizens from investing directly in Russia’s energy sector or from participating in foreign investments in the field.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck warned on Tuesday of serious damage to Germany in the event of a Western embargo on Russian energy supplies. After consultations with the energy ministers of the federal and state governments, the Green politician said that over the past 20 years Germany had become increasingly dependent on fossil energy imports from Russia. “This is not a good condition.”
European countries like Germany are significantly more dependent on Russian energy imports than the USA. Last year, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), Russia was the third most important country for imports of crude oil and petroleum products for the US – behind Canada and Mexico. Imports from Russia, at 672,000 barrels (159 liters) per day, accounted for almost eight percent of all US imports in this category. According to the Federal Ministry of Economics, the share of Russian imports in crude oil imports to Germany is around 35 percent.
According to Economics Minister Kwasi Kwarteng, Russian oil currently accounts for eight percent of British demand. Great Britain will stop importing Russian oil at the end of the year and will reduce import volumes by then. Kwarteng wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “Britain is less dependent [als europäische Verbündete]but of course we have diesel coming in from Russia and we can’t change that overnight,” Prime Minister Johnson said. However, it will be phased out – and in a way that will not affect British business and industry. Gas imports from Russia are initially not affected by the British plans.
According to the White House, the US import ban extends to crude oil and certain petroleum products as well as liquid gas and coal from Russia. However, the USA produces most of its gas itself, and Russia plays no role in imports. Coal is imported from Russia, but only in small quantities.
EU circles said the US measure was closely coordinated with the EU. It is in the interest of the Americans that not everyone else follows suit, because otherwise the price of non-Russian oil would continue to rise.
Because of the war in Ukraine, the US government has been under pressure in recent days, including from Congress, to add an import ban on Russian oil to the punitive measures already imposed. However, the government is concerned about gasoline prices, which have been exacerbated by the war. On Tuesday, the price in the United States was higher than ever: According to the AAA automobile club, a gallon (almost 3.8 liters) of regular gasoline cost a nationwide average of $4.17 (3.83 euros).
“Today’s decision comes at a cost here at home,” Biden said. Referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, he said: “I will do everything I can to minimize Putin’s price increase here at home.”
Germany ranked 10th in mineral oil consumption in 2020 with 93.7 million tons, overall it was the sixth largest importer worldwide. It is already known that in 2021 more than a third of German oil imports came from Russia. In the previous year, Russia was the second largest oil exporter in the world: around 232 million tons corresponded to around two-thirds of the amount sold internationally by the world market leader Saudi Arabia. A ton is roughly equivalent to seven barrels. However, the conversion for crude oil is not clear, as the density varies somewhat depending on the type of oil.
According to data from the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Russia was in second place behind the USA (118 billion tons) in terms of global oil resources in 2020 with almost 85 billion tons. In production from 2015 to 2020, the United States had 17, 9 percent had the largest share, followed by Russia with 12.3 percent – ahead of the heavyweight Saudi Arabia (12.0 percent).
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX)
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