Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said they made a symbolic gesture by banning imports this week.
Canada is one of the most aggressive supporters of sanctions against Russia, while Europe, which imports a quarter of its oil and nearly 40% of its gas from Russia, has been hesitant about imposing sanctions.
For now, the focus is on the financial sector and state assets abroad, as well as the ban on Russian state media.
While no direct oil and gas sanctions have been discussed, there are fears that the current sanctions will affect oil and gas flows.
In fact, Reuters already reported yesterday that a tanker carrying crude oil to Malaysia has been subjected to sanctions. According to the report, the LINDA tanker is owned by PSB Leasing, a division of Promsvyazbank, one of the targets of Western sanctions. But the bank said it no longer owns the ship. Another ship, which, according to Promsvyazbank, is not its property, was detained by the French authorities over the weekend.
Buyers of Russian oil were also reported to be having trouble paying for cargo and finding tankers to carry them after a wave of sanctions from the West.
All this suggests that even without the direct targeting of Russian oil and gas exports, the West could harm international flows. The risk of higher oil prices remains significant.
Oil prices are currently near the highs of 2011-2013:
Oil rallied ceaselessly today, even after the United States and several of its international allies said they could release oil from their reserves in response to high prices. They were discussing a coordinated release of 60 million to 70 million barrels of crude oil in response to recent oil price movements, fueled by geopolitical fears of supply disruptions.
