Russian energy imports have so far been left out of punitive measures due to concerns over how the energy gap would impact the energy supplies, reports Asian Lite reports
Amid concerns about rising energy prices over the Russia-Ukraine situation, the United States has said no decision has been made by the Biden administration about a ban on importing oil from Russia.
The United States and other western countries have imposed a series of sanctions on Russia after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the “special military operation” last month.
However, Russian energy imports have so far been left out of punitive measures due to concerns over how the energy gap would impact the energy supplies.
“No decision has been made at this point by the president about a ban on importing oil from Russia, and those discussions are ongoing internally and also with our counterparts and partners in Europe and around the world,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing.
She said that President Joe Biden is focused on ensuring economic consequences on Putin while taking action necessary to limit the impact on prices.
“And as you noted, yes, it is true that there has obviously been an impact of the invasion on the level of import to the United States into other parts of the world,” the press secretary added.
Psaki said the US over the next year will produce more oil than ever before.
“The US produced more oil this past year than in President Trump’s first year. Next year, according to the Department of Energy, we will produce more oil than ever before,” she said.
Earlier, the White House had said that a ban on Russian energy.
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the US was looking at a potential ban in a “coordinated way” with European allies.
Will a ban impact US?
Russia accounts for less than 10 percent of US imports of oil and petroleum products, which includes mazut, a low-quality fuel that can be refined into higher quality products.
The relatively small share of the US energy picture means “it’s easier for the US than for anybody else” to ban those imports, said Antoine Halff, a research scholar at Columbia University’s Center of Global Energy Policy.
Will it impact prices?
Even without a ban, oil prices have risen about 30 percent in response to the Russian invasion.
US gasoline prices averaged $4.07 a gallon on Monday, an increase of $0.62 from a month earlier and 47 percent higher than the year-ago level, according to the American Automobile Association.
Will Europe join a ban?
A US embargo would have more bite if it were joined by the European Union. In general, Europe’s economy is much more reliant than on Russian energy, especially natural gas, which accounts for about 40 percent of supply.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Sunday that “active discussions” were underway with European nations about banning Russian oil imports, but leading European officials threw cold water on the idea on Monday, noting that was no way to abruptly do without.
Will crisis affect US climate policy?
The cornerstone of Biden’s climate agenda, the Build Back Better Act, was already struggling on Capitol Hill, even before the invasion of Ukraine seized national attention.
Biden’s critics in the Republican party have said the crisis highlights the need to reconsider White House policies such as the canceling of the Keystone pipeline and the removal of drilling acreage in Alaska and other environmentally sensitive habitats.
But environmentalists say the lesson of the crisis isn’t the need for more domestic oil production, but more investments in electric vehicles and renewable energy.
General Milley’s appeal to troops
Meanwhile, General Mark Milley has asked American troops stationed in Europe to display their resolve to prevent “a great power war” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff is touring Europe to show Washington’s “determination” to defend NATO’s eastern flank in the face of Russia’s aggression.
Allies, spearheaded by the United States, have rushed thousands of troops to countries closer to Russia as fighting rages in non-NATO member Ukraine.
“We need to make sure that we respond quickly, to demonstrate our strength and resolve, our support for that Alliance to prevent any further aggression by the Russians and to prevent a great power war,” Milley told US soldiers stationed in an airbase near Constanta in southern Romania.
“From 1914, the beginning of World War I to 1945, the end of World War II… 150 million people got slaughtered. ….. We don’t want that ever to happen again,” he said.
He said, “What is clear to me is the unity and resolve of NATO in the face of an unprecedented threat and the largest land conflict on the continent of Europe since 1945.”
The United States has around 67,000 soldiers permanently stationed in Europe.
Nearly 15,000 additional troops have been deployed in the past weeks along a 1,200-kilometre (750-mile) arc along countries neighbouring Ukraine and Belarus, Russia’s ally, in a bid to dissuade Moscow from advancing further.
A total of 2,500 US soldiers have been placed in the three Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, 10,000 in Poland, 2,400 in Romania, 1,500 in Slovakia, 350 in Bulgaria and 200 in Hungary.