Oil Prices Surged Sharply Amid Reports of US Sanctions Against “Lukoil” and “Rosneft”
According to Bloomberg, the price of Brent crude oil rose by 5% — the market reacted to the threat of disruptions in Russian oil supplies.
“Oil bounced back from the five-month low reached on Monday,” the agency writes.
According to the publication, in the last days of his presidency, Biden considered a similar move but refrained, fearing destabilization of the global market.
Now, with Trump aiming to keep gasoline prices low, the decision on sanctions “looks risky.”
Thomas Graham, an expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, believes the measures are unlikely to lead to changes in Kremlin policy.
“If the White House thinks this will radically change Putin’s behavior, they are deceiving themselves. Sanctions work slowly, and the Kremlin is good at circumventing them,” he said.
US Sanctions Rosneft and Lukoil in Push For Ukraine Talks
The Trump administration announced sanctions on Russia’s biggest oil producers, rolling out its first major package of financial punishments on President Vladimir Putin’s economy as part of a fresh bid to end the war in Ukraine.
The Treasury Department blacklisted state-run oil giant Rosneft PJSC and Lukoil PJSC because of “Russia’s lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine,” according to a statement on Wednesday.
