The price of natural gas hit a record in Europe and the United Kingdom on the impact of supply concerns, while the United States and the European Union are discussing the possibility of imposing sanctions on the Russian energy sector due to Moscow's war on Ukraine.

The Dutch TTF gas reference price rose more than 60% to a record 345 euros per megawatt-hour, while the price of British gas reached 800 pence per thermal unit.

The price of "Brent North Sea" crude approached $140 a barrel and is on its way to recording its highest price in 14 years.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Washington and its allies were discussing a ban on Russian oil imports in response to Russia's war on Ukraine.

"The West's thought of banning Russian oil imports in response to the war in Ukraine caused prices to explode," said Karsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank.

"There is speculation that Europe may decide independently to stop importing Russian gas, but so far, the gas is flowing normally," he added.

Russian energy is essential to European daily life

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared Monday that Russia's energy imports are "essential to the daily life of Europeans", and said that supplies to the continent could not be guaranteed without it at this stage, for heat production, mobility, electricity and industry.

Russia is a major exporter of natural gas and among the world's largest crude producers.

The value of daily gas imports reached a record level of 689 million euros on March 2, according to data from the European research center "Brogel" based in Brussels.

Russia continues to transport natural gas to Europe via transit pipelines in Ukraine, Russia's state-owned Gazprom said.

And the Russian news agency "Interfax" quoted company spokesman, Sergey Kupriyanov, as saying today, Monday, that the use of the pipeline is still at a high level at the beginning of the week.

Kupriyanov said that it is scheduled to pump 109.6 million cubic meters of gas to Europe on Monday.

Yesterday, 109.5 million cubic meters were pumped.

Kupriyanov stated that the quantity supplied corresponds to "the requirements of European consumers."