(dpa)
Posted on: Monday, March 7, 2022 – 10:04 PM | Last update: Monday 7 March 2022 – 10:04 PM
Oil futures prices witnessed their largest daily fluctuation during trading today, Monday, following they approached in the morning trading the level of 140 dollars a barrel, before retreating sharply to end trading at a price of 121 dollars a barrel approximately.
This fluctuation came once morest the backdrop of news that the United States is considering a ban on oil and natural gas exports from Russia as part of toughening sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg News Agency reported.
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a memo distributed to members of Congress yesterday that the House is studying “strong legislation” that would impose a ban on the export of Russian oil and natural gas in a move aimed at isolating Russia from the global economy in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
With the continuation of trading and the decline in the price of oil to 121 dollars per barrel, fears of a major inflationary wave that would hit the global economy increased.
Diesel futures prices rose in Europe and the United States to near their highest levels in decades, while gasoline prices also rose. Shell has reduced sales of heating oil in some parts of Germany in light of pressures on fuel supplies, according to Bloomberg News Agency.
At one point in today’s trading, the global benchmark Brent crude price rose by $21 a barrel, as the market prepared for the possibility of losing a large amount of supplies if a US embargo on Russian oil exports is imposed.
US investment bank JP Morgan Chase expects the price of Brent crude to rise to $185 a barrel if Russian crude supplies continue to be disrupted, while one hedge fund expects the price to reach $200 a barrel.
The price of Brent crude rose by two and six minutes this followingnoon in London trading by 2.5 percent to reach $121.06 a barrel for delivery next May, following it had reached $139.13 a barrel earlier in the day. The price of Brent rose last week by 21%. The price of West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for US oil, rose today by 1.2 percent to $117.06 a barrel for delivery next April.
