Escalating Russia-Ukraine tensions send oil prices soaring

A likely result of the the ongoing crisis at the Russia/Ukraine border, oil prices rose to their highest levels in over seven years. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up about 2% to $97.32 by midmorning Tuesday. Earlier, it reached its highest price since September 2014 at $99.50. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude jumped by 3.3% to $94.03 after also touching a seven-year high at $96.

“We see the oil market in a period of frothiness and nervousness, spiced up by geopolitical fears and emotions,” Julius Baer analyst Norbert Rucker said. “Given the prevailing mood, oil prices may very likely climb into the triple digits in the near term.”

Tensions are also affecting American and European stock markets. Europe’s STOXX 600 index fell nearly 2% to a seven-month low in early trade. However, the mood then turned more positive and the index was back around Monday’s closing level as of the late morning. It was the same story on Wall Street, with futures gauges for the S&P 500 increasing and Nasdaq recovering from losses of about 2% to trade down 0.4%.

The rise in oil prices and drop at the stock markets came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into the Russia-supporting Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. The United States and its European allies started to announce harsh new sanctions in response, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warning that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would now be denied certification to begin operating. The video above include comments President Joe Biden made Tuesday regarding the oil prices.

“I have the impression that the market is as cold and hard headed as Putin himself,” Robert Halver, the head of market research at Germany’s Baader Bank, said Tuesday. “The markets are looking on what is to come, they think that what is happening is not good, but as long as the sanctions do not endanger the energy supply massively and the world economy will not slip into recession, they will get away with a black eye. It is not expected that the worst will happen as Putin would massively lose as well.”