Oil soars as sanctions and pressures on Russia mount
LONDON: Oil prices jumped on Monday (Feb 28) as Western allies imposed more sanctions on Russia and blocked some Russian banks from a global payments system, which could cause severe disruption to its oil exports.
Brent crude rose US$4.16, or 4.3 per cent, to US$102.09, at 9.15am after hitting a high of US$105.07 a barrel in early trade.
The Brent contract, for April delivery, expires on Monday. The most active contract, for May delivery, was up US$4.16 at US$98.28.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up US$4.19, or 4.6 per cent, at US$95.78 a barrel after hitting US$99.10 in early trade.
"Moves by the US and Europe to remove certain Russian banks from the SWIFT system have raised fears of a disruption to supply of some sort in the near term," said ANZ commodity strategist Danie...