Biden may be set to announce a ban on imports of Russian oil

There was growing speculation that the Biden administration would announce a ban on imports of Russian crude oil as soon as Tuesday.

According to reports, the US president's daily schedule had been updated to include an announcement regarding more steps to "hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine."

He was expected to make the announcement at 1545 GMT.

As at 1443 GMT, front-dated West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were jumping 4.47% to $124.74 a barrel on the ICE.

The news came amid growing pressure on the White House from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Congress as Moscow continued its assault on Ukraine.

On 7 March, the Democratic leader of the US House of Representatives, Steny Hoyer, said that the chamber could take up a bill banning Russian oil imports as soon as during the present week, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer for his part had yet to indicate what the upper chamber of Congress would do.

US Energy Information Administration data showed that in 2021 the US imported around 672,000 barrels a day of oil and refined products from Russia or 8.0% of the total.

Imports of just oil ran at a pace of 200,000 b/d during the previous year.

Earlier, the European Commission had laid out plans that would allow it to reportedly reduce the bloc's purchases of Russian natural gas by a third in 2022 and 2023, but no decision had yet been taken.

Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that the UK government was set to announce that it would phase out all imports of Russian oil - but not of natural gas - over the coming months.