US, EU, Canada and UK Announce Russian Sanctions
February 28, 2022
The Baker Hughes Rig Count said that oil rigs were up 2 to a total of 522 and last year there were 309 oil rigs at this time.
Energy prices sold off hard to start out Friday’s trading session after the extreme run-up to new highs the day before. Prices did rally off the lows before the day settled. The market is likely to continue to trade in the range established in the last two days looking for more news or more clarity on what is next. So far, no energy exports from Russia have not been impacted by any sanctions.
Prices opened much higher on Sunday evening when the markets opened mainly on the news that President Putin had told his nuclear deterrent forces to be ready and on high alert.
The International Energy Agency pledged to protect global energy security after convening a meeting to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The US, European Union, Canada, and the UK announced on Saturday in a joint statement that they will sanction Russia by removing its major banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT). This will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and harm their ability to operate globally, according to the statement. It is important to note at this point that energy is again left out of this action. The SWIFT move against Russia does not impact energy payments. The banks that handle the majority of energy transactions are still allowed on the system.
Goldman Sachs has said that barring peace, the only thing to significantly rebalance commodities is demand destruction.