Crude oil prices have risen sharply as the United States seeks to ban Russia’s oil

Washington (AB / Bloomberg) – Oil prices rose on Friday as the US government considered banning imports of Russian oil and oil products. The latter can be done relatively easily by the United States because it produces a lot of oil and uses relatively little oil from Russia.

On Friday evening (Dutch time), US oil rose 7 percent to $ 115.41 a barrel due to unrest over a possible embargo. For example, Brent, the benchmark for oil from the Middle East and North Sea, traded up nearly 7 percent at $ 117.87 a barrel.

The U.S. government and the oil and gas sector are reportedly still in talks over the impact of such a new embargo on Russia. “We are considering a number of options,” Cecilia Roose, a senior White House adviser, told a news conference.

Get enough energy

He added that this also takes into account the fact that there must be enough energy. Russian oil accounts for about 3 percent of total crude oil exports to the United States last year.

The previous day, there was already a lot of fear in the stock and oil markets. This is due to the Russian attack on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Crude oil prices have been rising for days due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. This is also reflected in the prices at the pump in the Netherlands. Petrol and diesel prices have never been higher than they are today.