The Biden administration is considering a possible ban of oil imports from Russia to the United States, but “no decision has been made at this time,” an administration official told Fox News.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the administration is speaking with partners and allies “to look, in a coordinated way, at the prospect of banning the import of Russian oil, while making sure there is still an appropriate supply of oil on world markets.”
An administration official told Fox News Monday, though, that discussions are ongoing. “We have been very clear that we’re considering a possible U.S. oil import ban,” the official told Fox News. “No decision has been made at this time.”
The official said that Russia is the third-largest producer of oil in the world, and said that “impact to U.S. oil imports would be minimal compared to allies and partners.” Russian oil exports account for about one third of Europe’s oil imports, however, for the United States, Russian exports are just under 10% of U.S. overall imports.
“So we recognize the United States has a different set of capacities and capabilities of mitigating the impact than other allies and partners,” the official told Fox News.
“When we say we are engaging with allies and partners on this, it’s about working with a range of countries around the world—both energy producers and those with reserves of oil supply—on addressing impact of energy price pressures,” the official added.
