Original title: The United States is buying Russian crude oil, causing heated discussions that it will announce further sanctions against Russia this week?
Source: Golden Ten Data
According to CCTV, on April 3, local time, Popov, deputy secretary-general of the Russian National Security Council, said that in the last week,U.S. oil imports from Russia up 43% to 100,000 barrels per day。
Earlier, “Russia Today” also reported that the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a report saying that from March 19 to 25, the amount of oil imported by the United States from Russia increased by 43% compared with the previous week.
According to the Russian Satellite News Agency, Popov said in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda,U.S. forces Europeans to sanction Russia while it continues to import oil from Russia. In addition, Washington has approved domestic companies to import mineral fertilizers from Russia, which it says are essential for life.
Popov stressed that Washington did it itself, but did not allow the Europeans to do the same.
The United States announced on March 8 that it would impose an energy embargo on Russia and stop imports of oil, natural gas and coal from Russia.But according to the U.S. Treasury Department, imports of oil, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas and coal from Russia areLast trading deadline is April 22。
According to the latest news,U.S. is also seeking more sanctions on Putin。
U.S. President Joe Biden said he was seeking more sanctions on Putin. The U.S. State Department said the United States was prepared to work with allies and partners to impose additional sanctions on Russia. US National Security Adviser Sullivan said:This week we will announce further sanctions against Russia. Sanction options, including on Russian energy, are being discussed with European officials. The next phase of conflict could be protracted.
In Europe, the report shows that the EU is exploring the possibility of imposing high import tariffs on Russian oil and coal to encourage member states to reduce the use of Russian oil and coal.
But given European countries’ reliance on Russian oil and gas and the pain of being cut off from them,The U.S. approach to Russia’s crude oil imports could further spark disagreements. Several countries, including Austria and Germany, are currently reluctant to ban gas imports.
The U.S. previously said it would add an additional 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas to the EU this year. Given that U.S. natural gas companies are already operating at full capacity, it is actually a question of where to get the extra gas for Europe.Even if it can reach the figure of 15 billion in the end, it is far from enough compared to Russia’s 155 billion cubic meters.
As a result, the EU and its Asian allies have so far avoided imposing sanctions on Russian gas over the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Indeed, Russian exports through some pipelines and LNG terminals have been increasing, with Russian gas exports to Europe via Ukraine rising to the highest level since the conflict began.
The world‘s largest independent oil trader Vitol recently pointed out that oil prices do not fully reflect the supply risks surrounding Russia. Oil prices have fallen to levels that do not fully reflect the risk of disruption to Russian exports. Although Brent oil surged to nearly $140 a barrel shortly after Russia’s actual action against Ukraine in late February, it fell 13 percent last week to around $104 a barrel. The main reason is that the U.S. announced an unprecedented release of strategic reserves to curb a surge in fuel prices, combined with the impact of the epidemic. These new developments mask the possibility of a decline in Russian oil production in the coming months.
Muller, head of the company’s Asia operations, said that by the third quarter, the flow of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia could be reduced by 1-3 million barrels per day, and the country usually exports about 7.5 million barrels per day.