The price of Brent North Sea crude oil – one of the benchmarks in international crude markets – approached $ 140 on Sunday, in other words its all-time high of $ 147.5 in July 2008. pushed upwards by the escalation of the war in Ukraine and the almost complete suspension of Russian oil exports.
Shortly after the start of electronic trading in international commodity markets, at 01:00 (Greek time), the price of Brent for delivery in May, a futures contract, reached $ 139.13 a barrel, before falling slightly. At around 02:30 (Greek time), the price increase was around 9.02%, at 128.77 dollars.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the price of Brent has risen by 33%.
As for the other market reference variety, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main US oil exported, the price of a barrel for delivery in April reached $ 130.5. At 02:30, it recorded an increase of 8.18%, to $ 125.15.
The head of US diplomacy, Anthony Blinken, said yesterday that the US and the European Union are “very actively” discussing the possibility of banning oil exports from Russia in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine.
Although, at least in theory, oil is exempt from Western sanctions to date, Russian exports have dropped dramatically as buyers have shrunk dramatically. Shell was one of the few companies to take the risk last week.
“Stop buying Russian oil,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba demanded in an interview with CNN yesterday, reacting to Shell’s purchase of 100,000 tons of Russian oil.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news
