The Ifo Institute has warned of rising oil and gas prices if Russia invades Ukraine.

"Even if gas supplies were not restricted, there would be a price shock, at least temporarily," said Ifo President Clemens Fuest on Friday, according to a statement from the institute.

"That would affect private households and industry in Germany equally."

A delivery stop is unlikely.

Fuest pointed to the mutual dependency: Western Europe needs Russian oil and gas, Russia is dependent on the money and wants to continue selling gas to Europe in the future.

Otherwise the EU would, for example, obtain liquid gas from ships in the future.

Expanding the infrastructure in Germany for this would definitely make sense.

In the event of a further escalation, the inflation rate in Germany could also rise.

So far, a rate of 4 percent is expected for 2022, said Fuest.

"If war breaks out, it could be even higher."

Ifo foreign trade expert Lisandra Flach said: "If further sanctions were imposed, they could put additional strain on the German economy, but on the Russian economy even more." The sanctions imposed because of the occupation of Crimea reduced German economic output by around 5 billion euros per year - that is 0.16 percent of the German gross domestic product.

However, the damage for Russia amounts to 1.2 percent of economic output.

On Friday, however, the price of oil initially fell.

In the morning, a barrel (159 liters) of North Sea Brent cost $92.79.

That was 18 cents less than the day before.

The price of a barrel of the American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) variety fell 33 cents to $91.43.

New highs for the price of petrol

Two issues are currently the focus of attention on the crude oil market: the Ukraine crisis and the Iranian nuclear deal.

In the Ukraine conflict, the prospect of further negotiations has recently provided some relief.

With a view to Iran, market participants are speculating on additional oil from the OPEC country.

The background is the ongoing negotiations on the revival of the nuclear agreement.

A new deal could see US sanctions lifted on the country's oil sector.

In its weekly analysis of petrol prices, the ADAC reported new historic highs.

Accordingly, the price for Super E10 climbed within a week on average nationwide by two cents to 1.745 euros - a new all-time high.

Drivers also have to pay more for diesel than ever before: a liter currently costs 1.662 euros, 0.8 cents more than in the previous week.

According to ADAC, the increase in the price of crude oil compared to the previous week has made fuel more expensive.

A barrel of Brent crude oil is currently around two dollars more than in the previous week.

One of the reasons for the price increase was the uncertainty in the crude oil market given the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

The ADAC expects that a possible easing of the crisis and a drop in the oil price will also be passed on to motorists immediately through lower fuel prices.