The Clap
U.S. President Joe Biden declared the U.S. will ban “all imports of Russian oil & gas energy, while the UK will gradually decrease imports until they are no more by the end of 2022.
Moscow then responded by imposing bans on exports of raw materials, although it’s not yet clear which ones.
Markets’ response
The ban on oil imports sent U.S. gas prices to an all-time high, & WTI crude, the benchmark crude for North America, immediately spiked to more than $128/barrel to then close at $123.7/barrel.
The U.S. government knows the toll this energy crisis is taking on its economy, & is releasing millions of barrels of oil from its strategic response in an attempt to limit the downturn.
For Russia, the effects of the ban on oil imports by the U.S. & UK are minimal compared to what a ban by European countries would be like. The European Union already pledged to reduce its dependence on Russian gas imports by two-thirds by the end of 2022.
