(NEW YORK) — Energy giant Shell announced on Tuesday plans to withdraw from its involvement in all Russian hydrocarbons, including crude oil and natural gas, amid Russia’s unprovoked invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
“As an immediate first step, the company will stop all spot purchases of Russian crude oil. It will also shut its service stations, aviation fuels and lubricants operations in Russia,” Shell said in a statement.
Shell will immediately stop buying Russian crude oil on the spot market and not renew term contracts. The company will also change its crude oil supply chain to remove Russian volumes, but said “this could take weeks to complete and will lead to reduced throughput at some of our refineries.”
In addition, Shell will shut its service stations, aviation fuels and lubricants operations in Russia, and will start a phased withdrawal from Russian petroleum products, pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas.
The company apologized for buying Russian oil last week.
“We are acutely aware that our decision last week to purchase a cargo of Russian crude oil to be refined into products like petrol and diesel — despite being made with security of supplies at the forefront of our thinking — was not the right one and we are sorry,” Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said in a statement. “As we have already said, we will commit profits from the limited, remaining amounts of Russian oil we will process to a dedicated fund. We will work with aid partners and humanitarian agencies over the coming days and weeks to determine where the monies from this fund are best placed to alleviate the terrible consequences that this war is having on the people of Ukraine.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, don’t appear to have advanced closer to the city since coming within about 20 miles, although smaller advanced groups have been fighting gun battles with Ukrainian forces inside the capital since at least Friday.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 08, 6:49 am
Two children among at least 21 killed by Russian airstrike in Sumy: Ukrainian officials
At least 21 civilians, including two children, were killed by a Russian airstrike in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy on Monday night, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
The strike hit a residential area of Sumy, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, which the regional prosecutor’s office said was still on the scene searching for victims Tuesday.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk called on Russian forces to maintain the agreed upon temporary cease-fire in Sumy and four other Ukrainian cities to allow civilians to evacuate Tuesday. She said Russian authorities have confirmed to the International Committee of the Red Cross that one evacuation route out of Sumy will be open, but Ukrainian officials are awaiting confirmation on the other routes they submitted.
Mar 08, 6:19 am
Over two million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR
More than two million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Over 1.2 million of the refugees from Ukraine are in neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.
“Today the outflow of refugees from Ukraine reaches two million people. Two million,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Tuesday in a post on his official Twitter account.
Mar 08, 5:36 am
Russia declares temporary cease-fire for humanitarian corridors in five Ukrainian cities
Russia declared Tuesday a temporary cease-fire in five besieged cities of Ukraine, including the capital, to let civilians leave.
“For safe evacuation of civilians from populated areas, a cease-fire is declared and humanitarian corridors are opening from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Mariupol from 10:00 a.m. today,” Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a press briefing.
All five cities except Kyiv had sustained brutal, indiscriminate bombardment in recent days.
It’s the fourth attempt to hold fire and allow civilians to escape the onslaught since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have been holding talks in recent days, and the Russian delegation has previously agreed to a temporary cease-fire and opening of humanitarian corridors in parts of Ukraine. But Russia has violated its own cease-fire and shelled evacuation points, while falsely accusing Ukraine of using people as human shields.
The hard-hit cities of Kharkiv and Mariupol were reported to be quiet Tuesday morning, with a local official telling ABC News that the center of Mariupol, a strategic port in the southeast, is not being shelled for the first time in days.
Ukraine said Russia has agreed this time to allow civilians to evacuate not only to Russia but also to other parts of Ukraine. Columns of buses and trucks with humanitarian aid are currently headed to Sumy, Mariupol and possibly other cities.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Russia has confirmed to the International Committee of the Red Cross that one route out of Sumy will be open. Vereshchuk said she hopes Russia will confirm routes for the other cities and also for the eastern city of Volnovakha. She warned Ukraine has information that Russia may have plans to disrupt the evacuations by leading civilians out of the agreed safe routes, in order to claim that Ukraine is not observing the agreement.
Petro Andrushenko, advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, said the city plans to evacuate people as long as Russian forces do not fire. A column of 60 buses and nine trucks of medical aid and food are headed to Mariupol now, and the hope is that at least 4,000 people can be evacuated via the buses plus an unknown number of private cars that will join the convoy, according to Andrushenko.
“If Russia doesn’t break it, we plan to evacuate people,” Andrushenko told ABC News via telephone Tuesday morning.
Mar 08, 2:05 am
World Bank approves $723 million in emergency support for Ukraine
The World Bank said its board approved a package of loans and guarantees for Ukraine totaling $723 million.
The funding will help the Ukrainian government pay for government services, “including wages for hospital workers, pensions for the elderly, and social programs for the vulnerable,” the bank said in a statement on Monday.
The bank said it’s preparing an additional $3 billion in support for Ukraine and neighboring countries, which have taken in more than 1.7 million refugees since the Russian invasion began.
“The World Bank Group is taking quick action to support Ukraine and its people in the face of the violence and extreme disruption caused by the Russian invasion,” World Bank President David Malpass said in a statement. “The World Bank Group stands with the people of Ukraine and the region. This is the first of many steps we are taking to help.”
The funding announced on Monday includes $350 million in supplemental loans, along with guarantees totaling $139 million from the Netherlands and Sweden, the bank said. Grant financing totaling $134 million will come from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania and Iceland. Japan is providing $100 million in additional financing, the bank said.
(NEW YORK) — Immigrant women in the U.S. often make nearly impossible and difficult decisions to leave behind family members, careers and various aspirations in order to create a new life for themselves in America.
“Like most of the people who immigrate to this country, I wanted more opportunities for my family,” Kandy Alva told ABC News’ Good Morning America about why she first moved to New York City from Peru in 2008. “Before I came I was in the management and hospitality field. Like all immigrants when they came to this country, even if you’re a professional in your home country, you just start at zero here.”
Alva earned her degree, worked as a nurse’s assistant in a nursing home and eventually pivoted to a culinary career running her own cake shop thanks to her time with Hot Bread Kitchen, an organization that helps immigrant women and women of color cultivate business skills, sharpen their culinary chops and build relationships for a local support network to forge their future endeavors.
In 2018, she saw the nonprofit’s culinary training program listed online, applied and secured an interview.
“There was more than 100 women in the same situation as me, with a lot of skills and they want to get ahead like me, most who were professionals in their own countries and want new opportunities,” she said.
Alva became one of 27 women from 10 different countries to make it into the culinary training program. After graduating in March 2019, Hot Bread Kitchen helped open another door, landing her an interview with the culinary team at Google, where she went on to work as a prep cook and restaurant associate in one of the tech giant’s New York cafeterias.
“We represent women at Hot Bread Kitchen,” she said. “Some women think we don’t have a chance in this world [or] think that you don’t belong in this country if you can’t do your goals — but if you make a lot of effort and focus on your dreams, your dreams can come true. I’m like a true example that immigrants can do amazing things for their future.”
“Now, after Hot Bread Kitchen,” Alva said “I started my own business, Sweet Kandy’s Cakes, and I’m very proud of that.”
Alva worked with her mother, who owned a catering business back in Peru, and said “all the skills I learned from my mom I have utilized in this country.”
“I feel very grateful for Hot Bread Kitchen and Google that gave me all the tools to get a position in this field,” she said. “Every woman has a different situation, but at the same time they have the same goal: to get ahead. I believe Hot Bread Kitchen is my family in this country because they check in and keep track of how I’m doing.”
“Most of the women in this field lost their jobs with COVID and we never felt alone in this moment. Hot Bread Kitchen always called us to see if we needed a part time job or just to say hi. That means a lot during difficult moments,” Alva said.
The nonprofit organization has welcomed women with open arms to their table since 2008 and helped them pave a path towards entrepreneurial success in the culinary industry. Recently, Hot Bread Kitchen found a new home for its headquarters at the former Food Network test kitchen space inside Manhattan’s bustling food hall Chelsea Market donated by Google.
The food career training program and job skills classes are back in action for the first time since early 2020 due to shutting down during the pandemic.
“There is now a room of 15 women learning and working so hard to get their first job in the culinary industry and it’s really incredible to have them here,” the organization’s senior communications manager, Jenny Kutner, told Good Morning America.
Fauzia Aminah Rasheed, the second-generation owner of beloved Bronx-based Jamaican food cart Fauzia’s Heavenly Delights, joined the small business program at Hot Bread Kitchen in 2018 alongside her mom.
“Being a part of Hot Bread Kitchen made me realize more than anything else in this entire process, how important it is to have a community,” she told GMA. “The things that you learned from just simply speaking to other people is way beyond what you would ever learn in a class — they really are able to help you with the ins and outs of what it means to be a business owner. And all of the little small nuances and details that you just don’t even think about.”
Their food truck has been in business for 25 years and Rasheed said it “all comes naturally” because it’s in her blood.
“But when I graduated Stony Brook University my mom asked, ‘Do you want to go ahead and start to take things over?’ I wanted to continue her legacy and all the hard work that she had put in, so I kind of stepped up and I’m trying to take the business into a whole different sphere,” she said.
Rasheed conceptualized a jarred spice line to get their brand into the consumer product space, but the mother-daughter duo needed a commercial kitchen to do so. That’s where Hot Bread Kitchen came in.
“They really meet you where you’re at. They were like we see that you’re starting from the beginning, here are the resources to do it, here’s community to help, and it’s just been nonstop blessings ever since,” Rasheed said. “There’s a lot of responsibilities that we have to juggle and the food cart itself is a lot of work, it’s like 7 to 7 every day. So that’s been a journey.”
“That was one of the main motivations for the whole concept was making your own version of what you really like from us and staying true to the flavors,” Rasheed said.
Her grandmother encouraged her to start the business, she said, because there wasn’t a jerk seasoning that lived up to what they ate in their home country.
“Now, the jerk chicken is basically one of our most popular, top selling items,” she said.
Working alongside women in their training, classes, mentorship and experience at Hot Bread Kitchen also gave Rasheed and her mom a greater sense of belonging in the culinary industry.
“Majority of them have been women and majority of them have been minorities and it’s just been really, really cool to kind of see yourself,” she explained. “So that familiarity has also been really nice and refreshing to be in that situation with so many people will look like you when they’re going through the same things that you are.”
Inci Mayo’s success at Hot Bread Kitchen in 2014 has led to longevity in baking. She landed a job on the bakery team at Whole Foods Market, took additional classes through the program with experts like Jeffrey Hamelman, and tirelessly pursued her new passion for pastry to eventually become the head baker at Restaurant Associates with Google.
“I took almost every opportunity they had,” she said. “My goal was to switch from bread only to the whole spectrum of pastry — I love the creative part of baking.”
As a German immigrant whose parents are from Turkey and family is still spread throughout Europe, Mayo said, “I didn’t find a good job when because my English wasn’t fluent when I got here eight years ago.”
“I appreciate Hot Bread Kitchen because I got the opportunity to take ESL classes [English as a secondary language] that was really helpful and a big support. I didn’t only learn how to make bread,” she said. “Hot Bread Kitchen showed me career opportunities that I didn’t think I was able to do by myself. I was at home baking every day and my husband said, ‘why don’t you do this as a profession?’ But I couldn’t afford the culinary arts school — then I saw Carla Hall on ‘The Chew’ talk about [HBK], which was really fortunate for me.”
The organization also provides its members with resources for part-time work, childcare and education, plus during the pandemic pivoted to create additional online resources and networking opportunities.
“Now, eight years later, I’ve created everything from a cookie to a tart to a cake, from flatbread to pizza and almost everything,” Mayo said. “I would like to move up and become a chef. In America I look up to people who can do the burden of being an entrepreneur with all kinds of skills and a plan to survive. When I do it, I want to be really ready with the management skills, people skills and financial skills. That is the dream.”
“I’m really grateful for the opportunities and the platform they’ve given women like me,” Mayo said. “I want to thank Hot Bread Kitchen for always thinking of me and I want to let other women to know that it’s a real game changer. You can really change your life.”
(NEW YORK) — More than 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began, according to the head of the U.N. Refugee Agency, many of whom are women and children.
Across the border, in Poland, fellow moms are stepping up to help.
A now-viral photo shows a line of fully-equipped strollers waiting for Ukrainian moms at a train station at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland.
The strollers were placed there by Polish mothers, according to Francesco Malavolta, the photographer who captured the photo.
“The thing that struck me before taking the photo was the absence of people around while two meters away there were miles of people. It seemed surreal,” Malavolta told ABC News by email. “I thought of them both, about the solidarity of those who brought the strollers and the dramatic stories of mothers fleeing the war.”
Malavolta also tweeted on Monday a photo he took showing strollers lined up at the border between Slovakia and Ukraine.
Dopo la stazione ferroviaria di Przemyśl in Polonia, anche sul confine tra Slovacchia e Ucraina vengono lasciati passaggini per quelle mamme costrette a scappare dall’Ucraina con i loro neonati. Copyright foto e testo Francesco Malavolta#ukraineconflict #Ukraine#WWIII#slovakiapic.twitter.com/w5HfDbYGvd
With men ages 18 to 60 forced to stay and fight in Ukraine, under a martial law order from the Ukrainian government, it is the images of mothers and children escaping the country that have captured the world’s attention.
In Medyka, a village on the border in southeastern Poland, moms and babies who have traveled for days to flee Ukraine are greeted with donated supplies, ranging from baby food to diapers and snow suits.
Adding to the growing humanitarian crisis, data shows, are the number of children who remain in Ukraine without guardians with whom they can flee.
Before the war, approximately 100,000 children in Ukraine were being raised in institutions, according to government statistics, a United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, spokesperson told ABC News Friday.
Many of the institutions are located in hot spots, according to the spokesperson, who added that large numbers of the children in institutions, such as boarding schools and orphanages, have disabilities.
These institutions are being evacuated without proper monitoring of the children’s situation, according to UNICEF.
(DES MOINES, Iowa) — One teenager is dead and two others remain hospitalized after a shooting Monday afternoon outside a high school in Des Moines, Iowa, police said.
The shooting occurred outside East High School, according to the Des Moines Police Department.
Two female East High School students, ages 16 and 18, were hospitalized in critical condition.
The teenager who died was a 15-year-old boy. He was not a student at the school.
“Unfortunately what happened here today is just another pointless tragedy in our community, people using firearms to settle their differences,” Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert said Monday.
The gunfire appears to have come from a passing vehicle, police said.
Police said Monday night that potential suspects have been detained, but no charges have been filed at this time.
“Witnesses are being interviewed, evidence examined, investigative leads followed, and multiple search warrants are being executed,” police said in a news release.
The high school was immediately on lockdown Monday afternoon, but Des Moines Public School District tweeted students were being dismissed on time after police and the school district gave an all-clear.
(DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.) — Police are searching for a suspect after a married couple was found stabbed to death on the side of the road early Sunday morning in Daytona Beach.
“We will spare no expense and leave no stone unturned in order to solve this case,” Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said in a statement Monday. “I assure you that our detectives are doing all they can to bring justice to the loved ones of these victims.”
Daytona Beach residents Terry Aultman, 48, and Brenda Aultman, 55, were found with multiple stab wounds and lacerations, police said. They were declared dead at the scene.
According to police, they believe the couple was riding their bicycles from Main Street between 1 and 2 a.m. Sunday before they were attacked. Police found them on the corner of Wild Olive and Riverview.
Police said they believe the Aultmans were biking home from Bike Week festivities when the attack happened.
No motive or suspect is known at this time.
Police said they are looking for a man wearing white or light colored pants and potentially a backpack.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Daytona Beach Police Department.
(WASHINGTON) — Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made repeated and passionate pleas now for the U.S. and NATO to implement a ‘no-fly’ zone over his country and ground Russian warplanes — through intimidation or force.
But he’s also made another ask — one that President Joe Biden’s administration said it is working with allies like Poland to facilitate — for fighter jets to replenish the Ukrainian air force.
“We know where these Soviet planes are stationed, which countries host them, and we asked these countries,” Zelenskyy told ABC News’s David Muir in an exclusive interview Monday, adding Biden “can do more, I’m sure he can, and I would like to believe that, that he’s capable of doing that.”
U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have said the administration is working to address this, including by possibly replenishing Poland’s air force with U.S. jets.
But amid growing pressure from U.S. lawmakers to do so, the White House and Pentagon said Monday it’s not as simple as handing over keys — especially as Russian leader Vladimir Putin eyes growing Western military aid for Ukraine as inching toward a direct role in the war.
“We are not, certainly, preventing or blocking or discouraging Poland — that is, they are a sovereign country. They make their own decisions. But it is not as easy as moving planes around,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.
“It’s just a discussion about the possibility of, should there be a nation that would want to give aircraft to the Ukrainians and would ask for a backfill from the United States — should that happen, what would that look like?” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said shortly after.
Putin has warned that any country attempting to implement a ‘no-fly’ zone over Ukraine would “immediately” become “party to the military conflict” — the kind of slide to a wider war that U.S. and NATO officials said they’re working to avoid.
But U.S. officials are concerned that increasing U.S. military support to include warplanes could be seen as a step too far for Putin, too.
In dramatic fashion, the U.S. and several Western countries have shifted what aid they’re willing to provide, including shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles known as Stingers. Germany, long opposed to providing lethal military aid to war zones, has moved to boost its defense spending and agreed to provide Stingers as well.
Whereas the Obama administration once held off on providing anti-tank missiles known as Javelins, the Biden administration and other U.S. allies have provided thousands in just the last couple weeks, according to a U.S. official.
But so far, that line has been drawn at military aircraft and advanced missile defense systems.
“In addition to assisting getting the Ukrainians fighter aircraft and letting them fly out of Polish airfields with full NATO protection, we need to provide them medium- and long-range air defense systems,” said Mick Mulroy, a former top Pentagon official and retired CIA officer. “The Stinger system is very effective, but its range is limited. Russian planes are flying at altitudes that make them out of reach.”
Polish officials have expressed strong opposition and deep concerns about precisely that, with the fear that Putin would strike Polish airfields for supporting Ukrainian fighter jets.
Psaki brushed aside Putin’s role, telling reporters, “We’re not waiting for the advice of Vladimir Putin on what we’re going to do here as it relates to backfilling planes.” But she added again it’s Poland’s right to decide.
For now, it seems Warsaw is the one opposed. The Polish prime minister’s office called reports the country would provide Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets and Su-25 attack aircraft “FAKE NEWS‼️” in a tweet Sunday — adding, “Poland won’t send its fighter jets to #Ukraine as well as allow to use its airports. We significantly help in many other areas.”
It’s possible the U.S. could provide enough protection to calm Polish nerves and enough support to make it worth Poland’s while, according to some analysts.
Chief among them would be giving Poland more F-16 fighter aircraft. But that’s a lengthy process that could leave Poland without air cover as it waits on those U.S. replacement jets.
Either way, Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials said they need air support now, including during a briefing Zelenskyy held with more than 300 U.S. lawmakers and staff on Saturday that bolstered bipartisan support for his government.
In the days since, several top lawmakers have publicly urged the Biden administration to ensure Ukraine gets more warplanes, including several top Democrats openly pressuring the president.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a letter Monday to push NATO allies to provide aircraft “without delay.”
“Asking them to provide their own aircraft, especially as Russia’s military aggression edges closer to their own borders, would be unthinkable except in the direst circumstances. Unfortunately, that is the situation the world faces. Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures and sacrifices,” he wrote to the cabinet officials.
In the meantime, some 70% of the latest package of U.S. military assistance — which totaled $350 million and brought aid in the last year to $1 billion — is already in Ukrainian hands, Blinken said Monday.
But he conceded Russia’s military outguns and outmans Ukraine’s, saying the Kremlin has “the ability to continue to grind down the Ukrainian military and, of course, to take horrific actions against the Ukrainian people, including attacking civilians.”
ABC News’s Sarah Kolinovsky contributed to this report from the White House and Luis Martinez from the Pentagon.
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — Demonstrators gathered in front of and inside the Florida State Capitol on Monday to stop the legislation that has been dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
“We say gay,” they chanted, the sound echoing throughout the halls as they anticipated a vote on the bill expected Monday.
Speeches and chants were held throughout the day as the Florida Senate debated the legislation. However, the crowd fell silent when a youth organizer read off a list of names of LGBTQ people who have died by suicide after experiencing anti-LGBTQ hate.
“When you come to our schools to instill hate, bigotry, and fear, we will stand up, speak up, and fight back,” Maxx Fenning, founder of the LGBTQ youth advocacy organization PRISM, said at the protest. “Our passion knows no distance and we will never be silenced!”
The bill would limit curricula on sexual orientation and gender identity in some classrooms and would allow parents to take legal action against school systems if they violate this policy.
In protest, walkouts statewide have taken students out of school and onto the street.
“We will get up, stand up, wake up every single day to fight for you because your lives matter,” Democratic Florida Rep. Carlos G Smith said at the protest on the steps of the Capitol.
Florida House Republicans have already advanced the bill and the governor has expressed his support.
Proponents of the bill, including the bill sponsor Republican Rep. Joe Harding, said he wants families to be able to play a role in how and when they introduce these topics to their children.
“Families are families. Let the families be families, and the school district doesn’t need to insert themselves at that point when children are still learning how to read and do basic math,” Harding told “Start Here,” an ABC News podcast.
While the bill would ban lessons concerning gender or sexual orientation in classrooms from kindergarten to third grade, it would also not allow them when it is age-inappropriate or not in line with state standards.
However, standards on gender and sexual identity have yet to be carved out, according to Harding.
ABC News’ Tony Morrison contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Red-hot prices at the pump are not only showing no signs of cooling down — but are instead set to soar even higher.
The national average price for a gallon of gas hit $4.06 on Monday, up a staggering 45 cents from a week ago, to reach its highest level since July 2008, according to AAA.
Analysts say consumers can expect new record high gas prices as soon as this week, as strong demand and supply disruptions, fueled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, send crude oil prices soaring.
“A big price factor for the market is risk, and at the moment this entire escalation for the conflict appears very risky,” AAA spokesperson Devin Gladden told ABC News. “The market puts that risk premium back onto consumers.”
GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan tweeted the national average for a gallon of gas has now increased at its fastest weekly pace since Hurricane Katrina, adding prices have already eclipsed their all-time highs, according to GasBuddy data.
Crude oil surging as geopolitical risk rises
Crude oil prices, which account for more than half of the cost of retail gasoline, have spiked roughly 30% in the nearly two weeks since the war began.
“The big question will be how high crude goes,” Gladden said.
Oil had already been edging higher at the start of the year, as consumer demand outpaced global supply. Major oil producers slashed supply during the pandemic – and it takes time to ramp up production again as more drivers hit the roads and travelers take flights, requiring more fuel.
“We were already in a relatively tight market,” John Kilduff, an energy expert and partner at Again Capital, told ABC News.
Traders fear the market will become even tighter if Russia’s oil supply to the rest of the world is cut off. Russia is the third-largest producer of crude oil in the world, accounting for about 12 percent of global crude exports, according to the Information Energy Agency.”The problem is it’s a global market,” Kilduff said.
Supply constraints
There are already signs of supply constraints from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Analysts at J.P. Morgan estimated last week about 66% of Russian oil is currently struggling to find buyers. A growing number of companies are pulling business from Russia, facing hurdles from new sanctions on the banking and payments system, and fearing global backlash from customers.
“The commercial entities involved in this market are shunning the supply,” Kilduff added. “We are already in the process of losing a chunk of Russian crude oil supplies.”
Import bans on Russian oil would further exacerbate supply shortages. While the U.S. only imports a fraction of its crude oil from Russia, analysts say a coordinated move between the U.S. and European allies would drastically alter supply to the critical European market.
The International Energy Agency reported European countries imported 34% of their oil from Russia in November 2021, the latest month official oil statistics are available.
Oil traders expect it will take time for other countries to ramp up production and fill the void if that supply is cut off. So as long as oil prices remain near multi-year highs in anticipation of further disruptions in the global market, consumers and businesses will feel the pinch.
“When the price of oil goes up, the cost of everything goes up because oil is used as a component in manufacturing and a range of products,” AAA’s Gladden said.
(WASHINGTON) — Calls mounted Monday for the U.S. to ban the import of Russian oil, but while President Joe Biden’s administration signaled a new openness to doing so, the president faced the tough decision of taking a step that would raise the price Americans pay at the gas pump.
Top Republicans and Democrats in Congress announced they had come to a deal on bipartisan legislation that would punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, by banning the import of Russian oil and other energy products — as well as suspending normal trade relations with Russia.
The White House said Biden had not yet decided whether to impose a ban. But an official with the White House’s National Security Council told ABC News that the Biden administration was considering doing so even if Europe did not also impose a ban — which would mark a departure from Biden’s strategy of imposing sanctions in lockstep with European nations.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that he had spoken with Biden and other Cabinet members the day before about a potential U.S. ban.
“We are now talking to our European partners and allies to look in a coordinated way at the prospect of banning the import of Russian oil, while making sure that there is a still an appropriate supply of oil on world markets,” he said during an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“That’s a very active discussion as we speak,” Blinken added.
In Congress, Democrats and Republicans in both houses have in recent days increasingly called for a ban. A bipartisan group of senators last week proposed legislation that would impose a ban, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, too, said she supported the move.
As the pressure to act mounts from both sides of the aisle, Biden faces a political quandary.
After nearly two weeks of placing crushing sanctions on Russia in concert with Western allies, not moving to ban Russian oil imports, too, could appear as it he is not doing all he can to inflict pain on Russia’s economy and its president, Vladimir Putin.
But around 7% to 10% of U.S. oil imports come from Russia, and a ban would raise energy prices, including the cost of gas, analysts say.
The White House has cited that cost to Americans as a reason Biden has not taken that step. It has been looking for alternative
White House officials also say the impact on Russia, which sent just 1% of its oil exports to the U.S. in 2020, would not be great — especially when its oil and gas sector is already under “de facto sanctioned” because of harsh restrictions on Russian banks.
But in an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll last week, 69% of Americans said they supported economic sanctions on Russia even if they resulted in higher energy prices in the U.S.
Biden has also said a priority of his is to keep the West united in imposing penalties on Russia for its invasion.
There is less appetite in Europe for a ban on Russian oil and gas imports, since European nations rely heavily on Russia for their energy needs — nearly half of Russian oil exports go to Europe, according to U.S. government figures – and a ban would raise Europe’s energy prices significantly, according to analysts.
The Democratic chairmen of the Senate and House tax-writing committees and the most senior Republicans on those committees said Tuesday that they had come to an agreement on legislation that would not just ban the import of Russian energy products but that would also suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus, which has aided Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.
The legislation would also provide Biden with the authority to increase tariffs on products from Russia and Belarus and aim to suspend Russia’s participation with the World Trade Organization.
The House could vote on the legislation as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday.