The U.S. European Union intends to ban Russian energy imports Oil prices have soared

According to the European Union News Agency, on March 7, local time, oil prices rose to the highest level since 2008, as the market was worried about supply, the United States and European allies considered banning Russian oil imports, and the prospects for Iranian crude to quickly return to the global market weakened
.

The United States and the European Union intend to ban Russian energy imports
.

In the first minutes of trading, Brent crude reached $139.
13 per barrel and U.
S.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) reached $130.
50, both benchmarks hitting their highest levels
since July 2008, Reuters reported.
As of 12:04 GMT on the 7th, oil prices have retreated, with Brent crude oil rising 6.
3% to $125.
55 / barrel and West Texas intermediate crude oil rising 6.
7% to $123.
37 / barrel
.

Global oil and other commodity prices have soared by more than 60 percent since early 2022, raising fears
of world economic growth and stagflation.
U.
S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said U.
S.
and European allies are exploring bans on the import of Russian oil, while the White House is coordinating with congressional committees to push for a U.
S.
ban
.

Giovanni Staunovo, commodities analyst at UBS, said our near-term forecast of $125 per barrel for Brent crude is a soft upper limit on prices, although prices could rise higher
if disruptions worsen or persist longer.
He said a protracted war could push Brent crude above the $150 a barrel mark
.

Bank of America analysts say that if much of Russia's oil exports are cut off, there could be a gap of 5 million barrels a day or more, pushing oil prices up to $
200.
JPMorgan analysts said oil prices could soar to $185 this year, and Mitsubishi JFG analysts said oil prices could rise to $180 and lead to a global recession
.

Russia is the world's largest exporter of crude oil and petroleum products, exporting about 7 million barrels per day, accounting for 7%
of global supply.
Some of Kazakhstan's oil exports from Russian ports are also in trouble
.
The head of Japan's largest business lobby said Japan's crude oil imports from Russia could not be immediately replaced
.
Russia is Japan's fifth-largest supplier of
crude oil and liquefied natural gas.

Meanwhile, negotiations to resume Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers have been plunged into uncertainty
after Russia asked the United States to assure it that the sanctions it faces as a result of the conflict in Ukraine will not harm its trade with Tehran.
France told Russia on Monday not to appeal blackmail in efforts to restart the nuclear deal, while Iran's top security official said the prospects for the talks remained unclear
.

Amrita Sen, co-founder of think tank Energy Aspects, said Iran is the only real bearish factor hanging over the market, but if the Iran deal is postponed now, we may get to the bottom faster, especially if Russian oil is out of the market for a
long time.
Analysts say even if a nuclear deal is reached, Iran will need months to restore oil supplies
.

In addition, U.
S.
and Venezuelan officials discussed the possibility of easing sanctions on Venezuelan oil, but in their first high-level bilateral talks in years, the two sides made little progress toward reaching an agreement as Washington sought to separate
Russia from one of its key allies, five people familiar with the matter said.