Oil Futures Settle At Over 13-Year High

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Monday, lifted by concerns over global oil supplies amid talks the U.S. and its Western allies are likely to impose a ban on Russian oil.

Uncertainty about a revival of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers also contributed to supply concerns and the resultant surge in oil prices to 14-year highs.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $3.72 or about 3.2% at $119.40 a barrel, retreating from a high of $130.50 a barrel it had touched on Sunday.

Brent crude futures, which climbed to $130.89 a barrel, were at $123.05 a barrel a little while ago.

The U.S. and its allies are considering banning Russian oil and natural gas imports, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

“We are now talking to our European partners and allies to look in a coordinated way at the prospect of banning the import of Russian oil while making sure that there is still an appropriate supply of oil on world markets,” he said. “That’s a very active discussion as we speak.”

Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to Democratic colleagues on Sunday evening that the U.S. House of Representatives is “exploring strong legislation” to ban the import of Russian oil — a move which would “further isolate Russia from the global economy.”

On the nuclear talks front, the efforts for a deal have taken a hit due to Russia’s unexpected demand for written guarantees that its economic trade with Iran will be exempted from U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.

Blinken, dismissed Russia’s demands as “irrelevant,” saying that sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine “have nothing to do with the Iran nuclear deal.”

They “just are not in any way linked together, so I think that’s irrelevant,” Blinken told CBS News.

Source: Read Full Article