President Biden is urging the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom to join the United States in a ban of oil imports from Russia.
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Michael Wara, Director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University, warned that the ban may have a negative impact on U.S. cost of gas, but added that the International Energy Agency has a tentative plan to avoid a further price spike.
"Gas prices are going to be driven by global oil prices," he said. "Potentially limiting Russia's access to global oil markets could raise those prices even further, particularly if other supplies don't come online."
To ensure the sanctions are effective, a key is to fully cut Russia off from selling oil, Wara said, explaining the urgency of Biden's plea to European leaders.
"I think the breadth of the sanctions really matters and this is true of all economic sanctions, in particularly for oil because if Russia can find other buyers for the oil, even if it's able to sell its oil at a little bit of a discount it's still going to make a lot of money, particularly given the oil price environment right now," he said.
In an effort to stabilize gas prices, the IEA is coordinating a release of crude oil from 31 member countries, while the United States is considering appealing to Saudi Arabia to produce more oil.
"I think there is a reasonable question to ask of whether the Saudis are willing to come to the table with more given the geopolitical situation," Wara said.
He added that with sustained high gas and oil prices, electric vehicle production will be given an important boost, which is not in the interest of Saudi Arabia and may inspire them to help stabilize prices.
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