New York, (EFE) – The price of Petroleum Texas Intermediate (WTI) closed this Tuesday with a rise of 3.6% and stood at 123.70 dollars a barrel after the United States vetoed imports of oil, natural gas and coal from Russia in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine.
According to data at the end of operations on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), WTI futures contracts for delivery in April added 4.30 dollars compared to the previous close.
The reference oil in the US began to rise early in the morning due to information that President Joe Biden would announce that ban in the morning, as was later confirmed, after the battery of harsh economic sanctions imposed last week to isolate Moscow.
In practice, the veto on energy imports from Russia, which has immediate effect, means that the US blocks any new purchase of crude oil and certain oil products, liquefied gas and coal from that country, in addition to to cancel deliveries of existing contracts.
In parallel, Washington is holding talks with energy producers and consumers to guarantee global supply and its stability, but wants to take advantage of this situation to deepen the transition towards green energies as an alternative to oil and gas.
Analysts at the Oanda firm pointed out that the “unilateral” aspect of the measure is what has led Texas crude to rise about 7% during the day – then it moderated – but not 15 or 20%.
Russia, one of the world’s leading exporters of crude oil and petroleum products, faces a harsh punishment that will push its economy into recession and is already experiencing difficulties selling its fuels despite measures not covering its energy sector.
The barrel of Texas reached a peak of 130 dollars this Sunday, while gasoline reached 4,173 dollars today at the US pumps, in both cases hitting records not seen since the summer of 2008.
Before the war in eastern Europe, the oil market was already very tight due to the growing demand derived from the end of the coronavirus crisis, and the prospect of a more limited supply has still pushed prices up.
Since the beginning of the year, the Texas has become almost 64% more expensive, and in the last month alone 37%.
Meanwhile, natural gas contracts for April delivery were down 31 cents to $4.52 per thousand cubic feet, and gasoline contracts due the same month added 11 cents to $3.68 a gallon. .
