EU unveils new sanctions on Russian oil
July 18, 2025
The EU announced new sanctions on Russia and targeted its oil trade specifically. The new wave of sanctions will remove 20 more banks from SWIFT and blacklisted a large oil refinery in India which is part owned by Russia’s state-run oil company. These actions also lower the oil price cap. This news has diesel prices up roughly 10 cents, gasoline is only up a penny, and crude prices are up over a dollar.
This is news that could disrupt supply and distillates are the market that is the most below average levels and as a result has garnered the most upside here to start out today. Diesel is also heading into a season of more demand also helping to support prices. The markets will digest this news, and we will see how the market settled at the end of today to give us a better clue of what might come next.
The energy markets are also being supported higher by news of drone attacks on pipelines and oil infrastructure in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. It is estimated that roughly 150,000 bpd have been disrupted. But the markets are also concerned that US tariffs on trading partners will impact the global economy negatively and lower energy demand. There is a good chance that prices could settle into a trading range with the bottom level already put in place and WTI could be stuck between 65 and 70 dollars per barrel.