Will the west place an embargo on Russian oil and gas supplies?

Will the west place an embargo on Russian oil and gas supplies?

Ever since western leaders began to threaten Vladimir Putin with sweeping sanctions over Ukraine they have been clear any such measures would seek to avoid disrupting energy supplies — the lifeblood of the western economy as much as of Russia’s.

But as the brutality of Moscow’s invasion has intensified, the idea of targeting oil and gas exports for sanctions is no longer off the table — even if it damages western economies in the process.

Canada, albeit a tiny buyer of Russian energy, has blocked crude imports and in the US, President Joe Biden is under mounting pressure from a diverse coalition of Republicans and Democrats to ban Russian oil.

“Nothing is off the table,” Biden said on Wednesday — even as press secretary Jen Psaki stressed the risks associated with taking such action. “What he does not want to do is topple the global oil markets or the global marketplace or impact the American people more with higher energy and gas prices.”

Here is what western leaders are weighing as they consider some kind of oil embargo against Russian crude.

Can Russia still supply oil and gas?

Up to now the west has seemed careful to carve energy supplies out of sanctions. When Washington announced