US Fears Russian Retaliation Strikes Against Ukraine Could Upset Global Energy Market

Russia remains one of the world’s biggest energy exporters, despite sanctions against its oil and gas sectors. But attacks by Ukrainian drones on Russian refineries, terminals and storage facilities impact Russia’s production capacity.

The US has urged Ukraine to halt strikes targeting Russia’s territory and its energy infrastructure, the Financial Times reported.

Washington contacted senior officials from Ukraine’s state security service (SBU) and its military intelligence directorate (GUR) to warn that drone strikes risked notching up global oil prices and “provoking retaliation,” insiders were cited as saying.

The Biden administration was said to be “increasingly frustrated by brazen Ukrainian drone attacks” targeting oil terminals, depots and storage facilities of one of the world’s most important energy exporters, regardless of Western sanctions.

Oil prices have already soared by around 15 percent this year, reaching $85 a barrel, the report noted, which did not look good for US President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign.

Another fear in Washington was that Russia could “retaliate by lashing out at energy infrastructure relied on by the West.”

Of particular concern was the the CPC pipeline, which pumps oil from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. Both Chevron and ExxonMobil use the pipeline to funnel oil from Kazakhstan through Russia and on to the global market.

“We do not encourage or enable attacks inside of Russia,” a US National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson was quoted as saying.

“The Americans are trying to maintain hegemony in controlling energy prices. Such attacks lead to instability in the energy market, and, accordingly, the US won’t be able to keep control the situation,» Evgeny Mikhailov, political scientist, director of the Center for Strategic Studies of the South Caucasus, told Sputnik.

The Kiev regime’s patrons in Washington most likely warned them of looming retaliation for recent shelling of Russian territory, he noted. With presidential elections looming in the US, «they need to at least somehow control the situation [in Ukraine],» added the expert.

US resumes Russian oil imports - Sputnik International, 1920, 11.01.2024

US Reopens Ports to Russian Oil Despite Sanctions

Mikhailov’s comments were echoed by veteran Russian military expert Ivan Konovalov.

«They [Western leaders] acknowledge that the sanctions are not working, the Russian economy is developing, the military-industrial complex is developing,» Konovalov said. «The United States is concerned about giving additional opportunities to Russia in the sense that if anything causes an increase in energy prices in the world, it is not profitable for them. Especially at the time of the Biden’s election race.»

Despite waging an unprecedented sanctions campaign against Moscow over the Ukraine conflict, the US has recently begun importing Russian oil for the first time since April 2022. The imports, totaling 36,800 barrels in October and 9,900 barrels in November, had a value of $2.7 million and $749,500.

The US imposed a ban on the import of oil, gas, and other energy resources from Russia in March 2022 as part of sanctions related to Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. Нowever, special licenses from the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) have now made such imports possible.

The US understands better than the Ukrainian regime what Russia is capable of, and what Moscow’s sweeping strikes embody, Mikhailov argued, hence the US attempts to both warn Ukraine, and underscore acknowledgement of Russia’s key role in the global energy market.

In a situation where the West’s sanctions don’t work and Russia’s economy is still growing, the US understands that “if anything causes an increase in energy prices in the world, it will not be profitable for them, especially during Biden’s election campaign,” agreed Konovalov.