Last year Russia was the third most important country for US imports of crude oil and petroleum products.
(Photo: AP)
Houston, Dusseldorf According to US media reports, US President Joe Biden will announce an import ban on Russian oil this Tuesday. At 10:45 a.m. local time (4:45 p.m. CET), the White House briefly put an appearance by Biden in the daily program. At this meeting, the President will announce measures “to continue to hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine.”
With this step, unlike the previous sanctions, the USA decided to go it alone. This is also due to the fact that the dependency on Russian oil and gas supplies is significantly lower than in Europe.
Because of the war in Ukraine, pressure on the US government, including from Congress, has recently increased to add an import ban on Russian oil to the punitive measures already imposed.
The pressure came from both political camps, observed S&P Global senior vice president and energy expert Carlos Pascual at the Ceraweek oil conference in Houston (Texas). “Anyone who doesn’t want to do that is branded as anti-Ukrainian,” says Pascual. The pressure on companies to stop buying Russian oil is high even without a boycott decision. “People want to know: which side are you on?”
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However, the Biden administration is concerned about gasoline prices, which have been exacerbated by the war. Last Sunday, the national average price for a gallon (almost 3.8 liters) of regular gasoline rose to more than four dollars (3.68 euros) for the first time since 2008.
Last year, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), Russia was the third most important country for US imports of crude oil and petroleum products – behind Canada and Mexico. Imports from Russia, at a volume of 672,000 barrels (159 liters each) per day, accounted for almost eight percent of all US imports in this category. The US is significantly less dependent on Russian energy imports than Europe. Natural gas from Russia is not shipped to the United States.
This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war:
In any case, thanks to the controversial fracking technology, the Americans have changed from being an energy importer to a net exporter of energy in recent years. In the past few weeks, oil companies have ramped up their production significantly. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) plays a particularly important role in supplying Europe. LNG can be delivered to Europe on ships.
The EU Commission is currently discussing an embargo on oil imports with the member states, but is met with some skepticism. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) speaks of a “conscious decision” not to take this step at the moment.
For Europe, the consequences of a boycott would be far more severe because it gets more than a third of its energy from Russia. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak warned on Monday that oil prices could reach $300 a barrel or more if the US and Europe banned imports from Russia. The consequences for the world market are “catastrophic”, warned the former energy minister of Russia.
With agency material
More: Russia’s economy: The sanctions are hitting the country with full force