White House pledges to avoid future sanctions on Russian crude oil

• Strategy aims to put pressure on Putin while avoiding fallout in US

• Not enforcing crude sanctions calmed oil markets on Friday

U.S. State Department official on Friday said that the Biden administration wouldn’t enforce any sanction on Russian crude oil because that would harm Americans and not Vladimir Putin.

“The sanctions will not target the oil flows as we go forward,” Amos Hochstein, senior energy security adviser of the State Department, told Bloomberg in an interview.

The comment emphasizes the U.S. governments’ approach to sanctions that are intended to put economic pressure on Russia while minimizing the blowback for American and European consumers.

ALSO READ: Nord Stream 2 pipeline blockage pushes gas prices up by 17% in Europe

“If we target the oil and gas sector for Putin, and in this case the Russian energy establishment, then prices would spike. Perhaps he would sell only half of his product, but for double the price,” Hochstein said.

“That means he would not suffer the consequences while the United States and our allies would suffer the consequences.”

Oil prices have already eased in response, Hochstein said, and the administration “can see prices go down from here.”

World’s third-largest oil-producer

Oil prices crossed $100 a barrel following Russia’s invasion on Ukraine, invoking fears that the move would lead to harsher sanctions from the Western nations.

ALSO READ: Aiding Ukraine to protect its sovereignty - The West’s role

The price jump is also for the first time since 2014 when Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine, which had a negative on the former Soviet Union nation, causing an economic crisis.

In 2020, Russia ranked third in terms of oil production worldwide, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Biden spares Russia’s oil exports from sanctions

The recent gains were somewhat erased after President Joe Biden avoided the energy sector in his initial sanctions.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) slipped $1.09 to $91.72 a barrel while Brent crude dropped $1.40 to $97.68 a barrel at 2.30 p.m. in New York.

The Biden administration is already facing pressures from record inflation that has spiked the costs of consumer goods, from food to fuel.

Last year, Biden authorized to release 50 million barrels of crude from the U.S. emergency stockpile. He also pledged to discharge more on Thursday, if needed.

Hochstein called the sanctions “significantly harder and harsher” than anything previously aimed at Putin, Bloomberg reported.

In the interview, he credited the Biden administration’s efforts to persuade natural gas exporters and Asian allies to divert gas exports to Europe, which prevented Putin from timing “the invasion with rolling blackouts or economic distress in Europe.”

“And there’s enough natural gas supplies to get through the winter,” Hochstein said.