Ukraine crisis briefing

$107,323

The EU has imposed a limit on bank accounts held by Russian nationals within its borders to $107,323 (€100,000)

$686.87bn

The US and its allies have agreed to prevent the Russian central bank from deploying its $686.87bn of international reserves

BP is offloading its 20% stake in the Russian energy company Rosneft, while Shell has announced its exit from its joint ventures with Russian state energy firm Gazprom. The company will also end its involvement in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, in which it holds a 10% stake worth $1bn.

Shell, Equinor and Exxon Mobil have also announced that they will exit their shareholdings and joint ventures of Russian projects. Some power companies that have decided to stop all commercial activities in Russia include Vestas, Siemens Energy AG, Orsted, Vattenfall, Fortum and Uniper.

After stopping commercial activities in early March, Vestas decided to completely withdraw from Russia over Moscow’s incursion into Ukraine. It plans to halt its four wind farm projects with a total capacity of 253MW, which have been under development since September 2021.

Gazprom, as specified in the Executive Order of the Russian Federation, officially asked foreign counterparts to make payments for Russian gas in rubles from 1 April. 

Spot coal and gas prices are at record highs, which is leading to skyrocketing wholesale power prices. In order to cut its dependence on Russian fuel imports, European countries are looking for alternate sources and are willing to pay a premium, further putting pressure on prices.

Crude oil prices, after surging to almost $140 per barrel due to the ban on Russian imports by the Western bloc, settled at below $110 per barrel due to a rise in Covid-19 cases and strict lockdowns in China, which is the largest importer of oil. 

The US and the UK have announced new energy sanctions against Russia, including the US banning all imports of Russian oil and gas and the UK announcing it would phase out Russian oil imports by the end of 2022. The impact of sanctions is already being felt, with skyrocketing prices of oil as well as other commodities.

The EU is working in coordination with the G7 to impose additional sanctions on Russia, which includes a ban on the import of coal. The proposed ban will impact Moscow’s annual business, which is worth around $4.3bn (€4bn) from the EU.