US bans import of Russian oil, gas

Earlier major oil companies announced reducing business in Russia

Picture source - Getty Images

The United States has come blazing in with yet another sanction on Russia after it invaded Ukraine – this time hitting its oil economy by banning import of all Russian oil and gas.

US President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that his administration would target a “main artery of Russia’s economy” by “banning all imports of Russian oil and gas”.

In a series of tweets elaborating on the development, President Biden furthered that the move found bipartisan support amidst the US Congress and the country, adding that Americans “have rallied to support the people of Ukraine and made it clear we will not be part of subsidizing Putin’s war”.

Referring to a previous announcement earlier this month regarding the release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves, the US leader said that together, the US and its partners would release 60 million barrels of oil to counter the high fuel prices domestically due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He said that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine was resulting in a loss for “American families at the pump” and that he would do everything to combat the price hike within the US.

Addressing oil companies and the financial companies that backed them in specific, the US president said that it was a given that the war in Eastern Europe was causing inflation, but it was “no excuse for excess price increases, or padding profits, or any kind of effort to exploit the situation”.

Measures by the US went in tandem with other recent developments that would potentially rock Russia’s oil economy. In denouncing the Ukrainian invasion, the executive officials of several well-known petroleum companies like Exxon Mobil, Shell and BP announced reduction of businesses in Russia.

On Feburary 28, Shell said that it would step back from its Russian operations, which included a joint venture at a major liquified natural gas (LNG) plant. A day before Shell’s move, BP had announced it would let go of its stake in Russian petroleum company Roseneft, which would cost more than $25 billion.

Similarly, on March 2, Exxon announced it would halt operations in Russia, which were worth $4 billion.

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