Gasoline prices hit a new record on May 31 after the European Union agreed to a partial ban on Russian oil imports by the end of 2022 as part of the sixth package of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
In the United States, prices at the pump rose to a national average of $4.622 per gallon, according to
AAA, up from $4.619 on May 30 and $4.598 a week ago.
The price surge marks an increase of $1.576 from this time in 2021.
In the United Kingdom, gas prices rose to 173.02 pence per liter ($2.18) on May 31, according to the British automotive services company,
RAC, which monitors both wholesale and retail fuel prices daily.
The average cost to fill a 55-liter family car with unleaded petrol is now 95.16 pounds ($119.73), according to RAC, with prices likely to continue increasing.
“The EU’s decision to ban the majority of Russian oil imports will cause the barrel price to go higher still, spelling yet more misery for fuel prices in the UK,” RAC fuel spokesperson Simon Williams told
Sky News.
“The wholesale price of petrol has already been increasing due to the increased summer driving demand,” Williams said, adding that average prices for petrol could climb to 180 pence per liter ($2.26) “in a matter of days,” and the price could continue rising to 185 pence per liter ($2.33), he said.
The record high price increase comes after EU leaders finally agreed on a plan to
block roughly 90 percent of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of 2022 after the decision was delayed amid concerns among some members about supply issues.
Earlier in May, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said
the EU ban on Russian oil imports would amount to a “nuclear bomb” for his country’s economy and insisted that the nation would only agree to such a ban if its oil supply security was guaranteed.
Landlocked Hungary relies heavily on Russian oil, sourcing nearly
65 percent of its oil supplies and 85 percent of its gas from the country.
The newly-announced oil embargo covers Russian oil imports to the EU that are transported by sea. Another 10 percent that is delivered by pipeline is exempt, as requested by Hungary, which is solely dependent on pipelines to transport the oil.
Charles Michel, chief of the EU Council, said the agreement will cut a “huge source of financing for its war machine,” referring to Russia, while putting
maximum pressure on the Kremlin to end the war in Ukraine.
In a later post on Twitter, Michel
said the sanctions will immediately impact 75 percent of Russian oil imports and that 90 percent of the Russian oil imported to Europe will be banned by the end of the year.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the move as an “important step forward” in a statement on May 31, also stating that the bloc would “soon return to the issue of the remaining 10 percent of pipeline oil.”
Moscow appeared to largely brush off news of the ban, stating that it would simply pivot to other importers.
“As she rightly said yesterday, #Russia will find other importers. Noteworthy that now she contradicts her own yesterday’s statement. Very quick change of the mindset indicates that the #EU is not in a good shape,” Mikhail Ulyanov, Russian Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna,
wrote on Twitter, referencing the EU president.
EU leaders also agreed to cut off the largest Russian bank, Sberbank, from the SWIFT international payment system and banned three more Russian state-owned broadcasters that officials said were “very typically spreading broadly the misinformation that we have witnessed over the last weeks and months.”
There’s also a prohibition on insurance and reinsurance of Russian ships by EU companies and a ban on providing Russian companies with a range of business services.
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