Brent crude oil on Thursday reached the $118 (Rs 8,947.53) per barrel-mark for the first time in nine years as global market sentiments remained hampered due to sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, The Guardian reported.
Brent is a global price benchmark for crude oil extracted from the Atlantic basin. It is used to set the price of two-thirds of the world’s trade of crude oil supply.
The United States West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, jumped $5.01 (Rs 379.80), or 4.53%, to $115.64 (Rs 8,766.54) a barrel, according to Bloomberg.
The rise in oil prices comes a day after the United States targeted on Russia’s oil refining sector with new export curbs.
On Wednesday, the White House banned the export of refining technologies, thus making it difficult for Russia, the third-largest oil producer and the biggest exporter of oil to global markets, to modernise its oil refineries, according to Reuters.
The United States has steadily increased sanctions on Moscow since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Putin claimed that Russia did so to protect residents of separatist-controlled regions in the country.
Market experts fear that oil prices may continue to rise under current circumstances in the coming days.
“I think as long as the West holds its nerve, oil [prices] will still go higher,” Jeffrey Halley, an analyst at Oanda Corporation said, according to Reuters. “Global financial institutions are doing the heavy lifting and blanket banning anything with Russia written on the documentation.”
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