The United States banned imports of oil, natural gas and coal from Russia on Tuesday, as punishment for the invasion of Ukraine, although it recognized that the measure will cost its own citizens due to the increase in fuel prices.
US President Joe Biden announced the veto in a speech at the White House before leaving for Texas, the country’s largest oil and gas producing state.
This step “it means that Russian oil will not be accepted in US ports and that the American people will deal another heavy blow to the war machine” of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, remarked Biden, who stressed that he has the support of both the Democratic and Republican parties.
In practice, the ban, which takes effect immediately, involves the US blocking any new purchases of Russian crude oil and certain oil products, liquefied gas and coal, as well as canceling deliveries under existing contracts.
investment veto
A high-ranking official of the United States Government clarified in a call with journalists that the measure also materializes in the prohibition of new US investments in the Russian energy sector.
At the same time, Americans are barred from participating in foreign investment in Russia’s energy industry.
Biden explained that the United States has decided to adopt this punishment against Moscow, despite the fact that many of its European allies are not in a position to join the measure.
“The United States produces much more crude domestically than all European countries combined.”, recalled the president.
“We are a net energy exporter –Biden highlighted-, so we can take a step that others cannot, but we are working closely with Europe and our partners to develop a more long-term strategy to reduce dependence on Russian energy”.
US imports of oil from Russia account for about 8% of the total, while in the European case it is 27%, according to official data.
The official went further and pointed out that last year Europe imported six times more oil from Russia than the United States, with 4.5 million barrels per day from Europe, compared to 700,000 per day from the United States.
Costs for Americans
Despite this message, Biden acknowledged in his speech that “defending democracy” in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine will entail “costs” for Americans, referring to the notable increase in fuel prices recorded in recent days.
In this regard, he announced that he will do everything possible to minimize the increase in energy prices in the United States and warned the oil companies that he will not tolerate them benefiting from the current situation by inflating prices.
“We are approaching record levels of oil and gas production in the United States”, he remarked.
The White House official admitted that the war in Ukraine has caused a 75-cent increase in gasoline for Americans, a situation in which the Government is adopting measures of “mitigation”.
In this sense, he mentioned the Executive’s commitment to release oil from strategic reserves, in coordination with the allies.
“The member countries of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) agreed to collectively release 60 million barrels of crude oil from strategic reserves”, Of which 30 million will be from the United States, the source pointed out.
Guarantee global supply
In parallel, Washington is holding talks with energy producers and consumers to guarantee global supply and its stability.
Beyond fossil fuels, the United States wants to take advantage of this situation to deepen the transition towards green energies, as an alternative to oil and gas.
Biden considered that this crisis serves as a reminder of the importance of his country being independent from an energy point of view: “It should motivate us to accelerate the transition to clean energy”, he reflected.
Today’s ban comes on top of recent economic sanctions adopted by the United States and its allies against Moscow, such as restricting the international operations of the Russian central bank and suspending certain Russian banks from the international Swift system.
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, was on Monday in favor of the international community approving the cancellation of Russian oil purchases.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is now in its thirteenth day, having killed or injured 1,335 civilians, according to the latest count by the UN Human Rights Office; a figure that the State Emergency Services of Ukraine put at more than 2,000 civilian deaths.
Source: Gestion
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