Taking to Twitter, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission said: “I welcome the #EUCO agreement tonight on oil sanctions against Russia. This will effectively cut around 90% of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year."
The embargo includes oil and petroleum products. However, it would temporarily exempt oil delivered from Russia by pipeline to allow Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic more time to cut off Russian supplies.
At 10.14 am, the July contract of Brent on the Intercontinental Exchange was trading at $123.20, higher by 1.26% from its previous close. The July contract of West Texas Intermediate on the NYMEX rose 2.97% to $118.49 a barrel.
Rahul Kalantri, vice president for commodities at Mehta Equities said: “Oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Tuesday after European Union leaders said they had agreed to cut 90 percent of oil imports from Russia by the end of this year."
The easing of restrictions imposed in China to contain the spread of coronavirus has also boosted demand hopes and supported the prices, Kalantri said.
“We expect crude oil prices to remain strong in today’s session," he said.
Despite the rise in international crude prices, domestic petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged for ninth consecutive day. In Delhi petrol sold for ₹96.72 per litre and diesel at ₹89.62 per litre.
Retail prices were last revised on 22 May, a day after the Centre announced a cut in excise duty on petrol by ₹8 per litre, and ₹6 per litre on diesel.
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