Economy - Russia and the West threaten each other with energy: Washington prepares a veto on crude oil imports

First modification: 03/08/2022 – 17:06

The United States and its European allies have been negotiating for days the possibility of stopping buying hydrocarbons from Russia as punishment for one of its main sources of income for the invasion of Ukraine. But now it is the Kremlin that threatens to turn off the tap.

Russia responded to the threats from the West with another threat: to paralyze the supply of natural gas to Europe through its main gas pipeline, the Nord Stream 1, in operation since 2012.

Washington and its partners in Europe are analyzing this March 8 the possibility of stopping buying Russian oil and gas. In response, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak warned on Monday that a Western ban would be met with “retaliation.”

The US plans to ban Russian oil imports.

Russia is the world’s top exporter of combined crude and oil products. A ban would be unprecedented, turbocharging already sky-high prices, risking inflationary shock.

Here’s what it will mean for the world https://t.co/7YH94U120F 👇 pic.twitter.com/k9UN38qNfq

— Reuters (@Reuters) March 8, 2022

Russia is the second largest supplier of oil to the United States., after Canada. The American union imported more than 20.4 million barrels of crude oil and refined products per month on average from Russia in 2021.

Russian hydrocarbon purchases account for about 8% of liquid fuel imports from the United States, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

In the case of Europe, Russia supplies a third of the oil and 40% of the gas it consumes, a dependency that it hopes to get rid of in the medium term, through the use of alternative sources.

Shell will stop buying oil and gas from Russia

Headquartered in the Netherlands, Royal Dutch Shell, the second largest oil company in the world – by market capitalization – after the US ExxonMobil, announced on Tuesday that it will stop buying Russian oil and will close its service stations in this country.

“Shell announces its intention to withdraw from its involvement in all Russian hydrocarbons, including crude oil, petroleum products, gas and liquefied natural gas, in a phased manner,” the company said.

On February 28, Shell had already announced that it will abandon all the joint projects it has with the Russian giant Gazprom, that it will give up its 27.5% in a liquefied natural gas facility, and that it terminated its participation in the gas pipeline Russian-German Nord Stream 2.

Thus, it joins a long list of companies that have decided to leave Russia, as a condemnation for the invasion of their neighbor, which has already completed 13 days.

With Reuters and EFE