U.S. President Joe Biden was expected to announce a ban on Russian oil and other energy imports on Tuesday in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine, sources familiar with the matter said, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
The White House said Biden was scheduled to announce actions at 10:45 a.m. (1545 GMT) on Tuesday against Russia over Ukraine, but did not specifically mention oil imports. Oil prices jumped on the news, with Benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 for May climbing by 5.4% to USD129.91 a bbl by 1345 GMT.
Biden has been working with allies in Europe, who are far more dependent on Russian oil, to isolate Russia's energy-heavy economy and President Vladimir Putin. Two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday the United States may move ahead with a ban on Russian oil imports without the participation of allies in Europe.
The U.S. imported more than 20.4 MM bbl of crude and refined products a month on average from Russia in 2021, about 8% of U.S. liquid fuel imports, according to the Energy Information Administration, and any ban is likely spike gasoline prices and inflation even further. The U.S. also imports a negligible amount of coal from Russia.
U.S. Senator Chris Coons said the administration was coordinating with European allies "and making sure that we've done the groundwork to understand how to effectively implement a ban on Russian energy." "We are going to see increased gas prices here in the U.S. In Europe, they will see dramatic increases in prices. That's the cost of standing up for freedom and standing alongside the Ukrainian people, but it's going to cost us," Coons told CNN.
The White House was previously coordinating with U.S. congressional leaders working on fast-tracking bipartisan legislation that would ban Russian imports; any White House ban of Russian imports would make any such bill moot. Republican lawmakers took to social media to welcome the decision, while criticizing Biden's green energy policies, and calling for the administration to support more oil and gas production at home.
U.S. Representative Susan Wild said Americans need to realize the larger sacrifice needed. "Obviously nobody wants to pay more for gas," Wild, a Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, said on MSNBC.
As per MRC, the U.S. took aim at Russia's oil refining sector with new export curbs and targeted Belarus with sweeping new export restrictions, as the Biden administration amps up its crackdown on Moscow and Minsk over the invasion of Ukraine. The new round of sanctions announced by the White House ban the export of specific refining technologies, making it harder for Russia to modernize its oil refineries. The White House also applied a sweeping set of export restrictions levied against Russia last month to Belarus, arguing the controls would help prevent the diversion of items, including technology and software, in the defense, aerospace and maritime sectors to Russia through Belarus.
As per MRC, ExxonMobil said it will exit a major oil and gas project and cease investing in Russia, making it the latest western oil company to cut ties with the country following its invasion of Ukraine. The Texas-based energy supermajor said it was “discontinuing operations” at the Sakhalin-1 project in Russia’s far east, one of the largest foreign-operated oil and gasfields in the country. Exxon follows BP, Shell and Norway’s Equinor, which have said they will dump stakes in projects and sell out of Russian state-backed energy groups after Moscow was hit with a barrage of western sanctions.
MRC