Western Ban On Crude Oil Imports Will Push Price To $300 A Barrel, Warns Russia

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has warned closure of closure of the main gas pipeline to Germany

New Delhi: A ban on Russian oil imports by Western countries could push the price of crude oil to $300 a barrel and prompt the closure of the main gas pipeline to Germany, Moscow in a warning said on Monday, according to a report by the Reuters.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has said, “A rejection of Russian oil would lead to catastrophic consequences for the global market,” adding that the price could more than double to over $300 per barrel.

Russia’s invasion to Ukraine, the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two, has created 17 lakh refugees, a raft of sanctions on Moscow, and apprehensions of wider conflict in the West unthought-of for decades.

In a bid to pressurise Russian President Vladimir Putin, the US said Washington and its European allies were considering banning Russian oil imports. As strict sanctions were imposed on Russia because of its invasion in Ukraine, crude prices spiked to their highest levels since 2008.

Germany last month froze the certification of Nord Stream 2 that was due to pipe gas from Russia to Germany.

“We have every right to take a matching decision and impose an embargo on gas pumping through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline,” said Novak.

According to a Russian news agency, Moscow would give the residents of the Ukrainian cities of Sumy and Mariupol the choice of moving elsewhere in Ukraine on Tuesday, setting a deadline in the early hours for Kyiv to agree.

Sieges and the bombing continued as Kyiv rejected possible humanitarian corridors to Russia and Belarus. However, said some limited progress had been made on agreeing logistics for the evacuation of civilians.

US President Joe Biden held a video conference call with the leaders of France, Germany, and Britain as he pushed for their support on the ban. But if need be the US is willing to move ahead without allies in Europe, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Many countries on the continent are heavily reliant on Russian energy.

According to the Reuters report, the Russian economy, banking system, and currency have been under intense pressure as strict sanctions have been imposed on the country. The country will be excluded from all of JPMorgan’s fixed income indexes, the bank said on Monday.