White House Deputy National Security Adviser Dalip Singh said the administration of President Joe Biden is looking at ways to reduce the United States' consumption of Russian oil to punish Moscow for its military operation in Ukraine.
"We are looking at ways to reduce US consumption of Russian oil while preserving global energy supplies," Singh added, in an interview with CNN on Wednesday.
US President Joe Biden said all options were on the table regarding a possible embargo on Russian oil and gas.
The White House said it was assessing concerns about the global oil market and the needs of Americans when considering targeting the Russian energy sector with punitive measures because of Russia's war on Ukraine.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a few days ago that they plan to ban the import of crude oil from Russia.
Meanwhile, the price of Brent crude oil rose to about $ 117 a barrel, the highest level of oil prices since 2013.
And yesterday, Wednesday, crude prices closed at the highest level for a barrel of Brent since 2014, and for a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude in 11 years.
The energy ministers of the "OPEC Plus" (OPEC +) alliance agreed yesterday, Wednesday, to adhere to their current plan to increase production by 400,000 barrels per day in next April.
This came at the conclusion of a remote meeting on production policy that lasted less than a quarter of an hour, and in which no reference was made to the Ukraine crisis.
After the meeting, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that OPEC Plus will continue its monthly online meetings to continue its close monitoring of the oil market.
A statement by the coalition said that the fundamental factors in the oil market currently indicate a balance in the market, and the current turmoil is not due to a change in market fundamentals, but due to the current geopolitical developments.
And yesterday, Wednesday, the member states of the International Energy Agency agreed, in a video meeting, to pump 60 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves, in order to maintain market stability.