Oil prices jump this Wednesday in the European Union. They are the world’s largest trading bloc, and right now, they are open about their plans to phase out imports of Russian oil. China has already expressed its worries as the top importer, and the European Union compensates for them.
For example, Brent crude futures rose $3.76, or 3.6%, to $108.73 a barrel by 1353 GMT. And the same happened with West Texas Intermediate crude rose $3.93, or 3.8%, to $106.34 a barrel.
The plan from the government to get a solution
A proposal was made by the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this Wednesday. She put on the table the possibility of a phased oil embargo on Russia over its war in Ukraine. Also, she proposed sanctioning Russia’s top bank to deepen Moscow’s isolation.
President von der Leyen is pleaching to minimize the impact on European economies. The measures she proposed include phasing out supplies of Russian crude within six months. Also, applied it to refined products by the end-2022.
However, there are still some countries like Hungary and Slovakia, that will go on buying Russian crude oil until 2023 because of existing contracts. “Russian oil is now ‘bad oil’,” SEB chief commodities analyst Bjarne Schieldrop said. “This energy war of ‘good oil’ versus ‘bad oil’ has just started,” he added.
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The investors are waiting on an answer this Wednesday from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The expectations are on bringing down high inflation by raising interest rates and reducing its balance sheet.
According to the American Petroleum Institute, the U.S.A. crude and fuel stock fell last week. Crude fell by 3.5 million barrels in the last week of April. It was more than the expectations of the 800,000-barrels drop estimation.
