U.S. oil futures end nearly 4% higher as U.S. bans imports of Russian oil

Oil futures climbed Tuesday, with U.S. prices up by nearly 4%, after President Joe Biden announced a ban on imports of Russian oil. “How high oil prices will need to go depends primarily on how much and for how long the market will need to shun export barrels from Russia and whether other buyers, such as China, will step in to increase its purchases of oil from Russia,” said Bjørnar Tonhaugen, head of oil markets at Rystad Energy. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery rose $4.30, or 3.6%, to settle at $123.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the highest front-month finish since August 2008, FactSet data show.

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