By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-23 04:01:31 | Updated at 2025-01-23 06:50:50
2 hours ago
Asian energy markets are facing heightened uncertainties as prices swing over the latest Western sanctions targeting Russian oil shipments and US President Donald Trump’s push to expand American oil output, with analysts cautioning the volatility may persist for months.
India and China, two of the world’s largest oil consumers, are facing the brunt of the impact after the US and the UK imposed the sanctions, analysts say.
Trump declared on Monday – his first day in office – that the US was facing a national energy emergency, signalling that the world’s largest oil producer might increase its output.
Benchmark Brent crude oil prices rose to US$80 per barrel in mid-January in the wake of the sanctions from US$73 on Christmas and have since fallen to US$79.13 as of Wednesday evening.
Earlier this month, the outgoing Joe Biden administration said it was imposing sanctions on more than 200 entities and individuals involved in the sale and transport of Russian oil, including 183 vessels that it believed were part of a shadow fleet that had evaded an earlier round of similar sanctions.
The UK government also imposed sanctions on Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, two of Russia’s largest energy companies, saying their profits were “lining [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war chest and facilitating the war” in Ukraine.
