In response to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the United States bans oil imports from Russia.

"This means that Russian oil will no longer be accepted in US ports and the Americans will deal another serious blow to Putin's war machine," said US President Joe Biden during a short-term appearance at the White House on Tuesday.

It was initially unclear when the import ban would apply.

Biden said the measure was coordinated with European allies.

But we know "that many of our European allies and partners may not be able to join us," he added.

“So we can take that step when others can't.

But we are working closely with Europe and our partners to develop a long-term strategy that will also reduce their dependence on Russian energy.”

Great Britain also wants to do without Russian oil

Germany does not follow the import ban.

According to Economics Minister Robert Habeck, the White House has coordinated the steps with the Europeans.

But Germany will not follow suit and there are no corresponding demands from the USA either, Habeck said on Tuesday after a special call by the federal and state energy ministers.

For the USA as an oil producer, the situation is different than for Europe.

The sanctions against Russia should be as effective as possible, but this also means that they can be maintained for three years, emphasized the Green politician.

For many years, however, Germany had maneuvered itself into an energy dependency on Russia from which it had to get out as quickly as possible.

Habeck called on the OPEC countries to increase their oil production volumes.

This could relieve the world market and prevent a sharp rise in prices.

Britain is phasing out imports of Russian oil and oil products by the end of the year.

By the end of 2022 there is enough time for the market, companies and supply chains to replace Russian imports.

Consumers should not feel the change.

The government announces a task force that will support companies during the transition period in order, among other things, to find alternative sources of supply.

For the US, Russia was the third most important country for crude oil imports

Last year, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), Russia was the third most important country for imports of crude oil and petroleum products for the US - behind Canada and Mexico.

Imports from Russia, at a volume of 672,000 barrels (159 liters each) per day, accounted for almost eight percent of all US imports in this category.

According to the Federal Ministry of Economics, the share of Russian imports in crude oil imports to Germany is around 35 percent.

Because of the war in Ukraine, pressure has also grown on the US administration from Congress to add a ban on Russian oil imports to existing penalties.

However, the government is concerned about gasoline prices, which have been exacerbated by the war.

Last Sunday, the national average price for a gallon (almost 3.8 liters) of regular gasoline rose to more than four dollars (3.68 euros) for the first time since 2008.

Germany ranked 10th in mineral oil consumption in 2020 with 93.7 million tons, overall it was the sixth largest importer worldwide.

It is already known that in 2021 more than a third of German oil imports came from Russia.

In the previous year, Russia was the second largest oil exporter in the world: around 232 million tons corresponded to around two-thirds of the amount sold internationally by the world market leader Saudi Arabia.

A ton is roughly equivalent to seven barrels.

However, the conversion for crude oil is not clear, as the density varies somewhat depending on the type of oil.

According to data from the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) in 2020, Russia was in second place behind the USA (118 billion tons) in terms of global oil resources with almost 85 billion tons.

In the funding from 2015 to 2020, the United States had the largest share with 17.9 percent, followed by Russia with 12.3 percent - ahead of the heavyweight Saudi Arabia (12.0 percent).