Brent Rises To $115 As EU Considers Russia Oil Ban

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, appreciated in price on Monday, moving up by 7.3 per cent or $7.88 to $115/barrel at 7.54pm Nigerian time as European Union nations considered joining the United States in a Russian oil embargo.

Industry figures showed that the commodity has been gaining in price since about a week, as more nations impose sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine.

The rise in crude oil prices also came after a weekend attack on Saudi Arabia oil facilities.

Global oil prices moved higher ahead of talks this week between European Union governments and the United States President, Joe Biden, in a series of summits that aims to harden the West’s response to Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Reuters reported that EU governments would consider whether to impose an oil embargo on Russia.

Early on Monday, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vershchuk said there was no chance the country’s forces would surrender in the besieged eastern port city of Mariupol.

“Optimism is seeping away about progress in talks to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine and that’s sent the price of oil on the march upwards,” Susannah Streeter, senior markets analyst at UK-based asset manager Hargreaves Lansdown, told Reuters.

With little sign of the conflict easing, the focus returned to whether the market would be able to replace Russian barrels hit by sanctions.

However, despite the rise in crude oil price, Nigeria has not been able to fully take advantage of the development as the country has been missing its oil production quota approved for the nation by OPEC.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited recently vowed to ensure that oil production in Nigeria was ramped up so as to enable the country to take advantage of the rising prices of crude oil.