Brent Appreciates To $115 As EU Considers Ban On Russia Oil

Global oil benchmark, Brent crude has appreciated amid crisis in Europe involving Russia and Ukraine.

A trade report on Monday showed Brent crude price leaping by 7.3 per cent or $7.88 to $115/barrel at 7.54 pm Nigerian time, Naija News understands.

This is happening at a time European Union nations is puzzled with the thought of joining the United States in placing a ban on Russian oil.

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

Naija News also observed that the rise in crude oil prices is coming after a weekend attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities.

Meanwhile, European Union governments and the United States President, Joe Biden, will this week have a round table with the aim of discussing the ongoing cold war which started after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The EU governments according to reports would consider whether to impose an oil embargo on Russia at the summit.

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 to enable the country to take advantage of the rising prices of crude oil.