Oil slump accelerates amid EU haggling and sinking equities
BNN Bloomberg
Oil fell below US$105 as investors weighed several bearish factors including the European Union softening its sanctions on Russia and a broader market selloff.
“The less prohibitive sanctions plan on Russian oil may take less of its supply offline, and highlights the complexity of sanctions against Russian energy,” said said Rohan Reddy, director of research at Global X Management. “The pushback from some EU members like Hungary and Slovakia could mean the EU may need to go back to the drawing board on its initial sanctions proposal.”
The EU will drop a proposed ban on its vessels transporting Russian oil to third countries, but will retain a plan to prohibit insuring those shipments, according to documents seen by Bloomberg and people familiar with the matter. Russia said Monday it expects its oil production to rise in May, and that it is seeing new buyers for its crude, including in Asia.
Over the weekend the leaders of the Group of Seven countries made a vow to ban imports from Russia in response to President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. But most nations cutting Russian purchases have so far stressed the need for orderly change, allowing much of the rest of the year to wind down.
