Oil prices rose more than 7% on Monday, with global benchmark Brent crude rising above $115 a barrel, as European Union countries disagreed over whether to join the United States in a Russian oil embargo after an attack on Saudi oil facilities.
Brent crude futures settled at $115.62 a barrel, up $7.69, or 7.12%, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled at $112.12 a barrel, up $7.42, or 7.09%.
Such a ban “could be a precipice for global supply problems,” said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC.
Due to uncertainty about a possible EU ban on Russian oil imports, US gasoline futures jumped 5%.
European Union governments will consider whether to impose an oil embargo on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine as they meet this week with US President Joe Biden in a series of summits designed to bolster the West’s response to Moscow.
The European Union and its allies have already imposed a raft of measures against Russia, including freezing the assets of its central bank.
Ukraine defied a Russian demand that its forces lay down their arms before dawn on Monday in Mariupol, as hundreds of thousands of civilians were trapped in a besieged city.
With little sign of easing the conflict, the focus is back on whether the market will be able to replace the sanctions-damaged Russian barrels.
“Optimism is seeping in about progress in talks for a ceasefire in Ukraine, and that has sent oil prices higher on the march,” said Susanna Streeter, chief market analyst at UK-based Hargreaves Lansdowne Asset Management.
Over the weekend, attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement caused a temporary drop in production at a joint venture of Saudi Aramco’s refinery in Yanbu, sparking concern in the tense oil products market, where Russia is a major supplier and global stocks are multiple. its lowest levels for the year.
On Monday, Saudi Arabia said it would not be responsible for any shortfall in global oil supplies after these attacks, in a sign of growing Saudi frustration with Washington’s dealings with Yemen and Iran.
The latest report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, collectively known as OPEC+, showed that some producers were still falling short of agreed supply quotas.
Oil prices have also been sensitive to talk of Hong Kong lifting COVID-19 restrictions, which could spur demand, and the growing list of US companies pulling out of Russia – including Baker Hughes, ExxonMobil, Shell and BP.
(Additional reporting by Noah Browning in Londo, Sonali Paul in Melbourne, Florence Tan in Singapore; Editing by Margarita Choi and Barbara Lewis)
(The title and image for this report may have been reformulated only by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a shared feed.)
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