US to Ban Import of Russian Oil, Gas
NEW DELHI, March 8: The United States has decided to ban importing Russian oil and gas and an announcement to this effect is expected to be made by the president Joe Biden by Tuesday night or Wednesday in a further tightening of unprecedented economic sanctions punishing Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
The ban is partly a response to strong bipartisan pressure from Congress, despite the impact the announcement is likely to have on already soaring domestic gas prices. The White House said the president would speak at 1545 GMT to “announce actions to continue to hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine.”
According to US media reports, the ban will include Russian oil and liquefied natural gas. Washington’s European allies, who are for more reliant on Russian energy than the United States, may not participate in it at least for now. Russia accounts for less than 10 percent of US imports of oil and petroleum products, which means the impact on the world’s largest economy would be easier to bear. Even without a ban, oil prices have risen about 30 per cent in response to the Russian invasion, and Brent crude futures were nearly $130 on Tuesday.
While rising oil prices have added to inflation concerns, undermining Biden’s approval among voters, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi supports an oil ban as well as raising tariffs on other Russian goods to “further isolate Russia from the global economy.” However, she also favours steps to lower oil prices, including releasing more crude from the US strategic petroleum reserve.
Senator Chris Coons, from Biden’s home state of Delaware, warned that Europe “will see dramatic increases in prices” since production cannot ramp up suddenly. “That is the cost of standing up for freedom and of standing alongside the Ukrainian people. But it is going to cost us,” he said.
The European Commission published plans on Tuesday to cut the EU’s dependency on Russian gas by two-thirds this year and end its reliance on Russian supplies of the fuel “well before 2030.” The European Union executive said it would do so by switching to alternative supplies and expanding clean energy more quickly under the plans, which would largely be the responsibility of national governments for implementing.
The European Parliament is also set to approve on Wednesday a report urging the E.U. to ban golden passport schemes by 2025 and immediately stop the issuance of visas and passports to rich Russians in exchange for investments. The golden passport industry, which between 2011 and 2019 generated investments in EU countries of over €20 billion ($21.8 billion), is currently almost entirely unregulated in the E.U., despite many countries having run these schemes for years.
(Manas Dasgupta)
