Global prices for oil jumped by three percent Monday due to the ongoing Russian military invasion of Ukraine as well as excluding Russia from SWIFT global payment system, leading to major disruption of oil exports. Leaders of the US, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Canada, their counterparts in the EU issued a joint statement via the White House last Saturday condemning the ongoing war in the Ukraine and expressing their commitment to ban Russian from SWIFT. The price of the Brent crude closed yesterday at USD 100.99 per barrel after a huge increase by USD 3.06, the same case with West Texas Intermediate, which leaped by USD 4.13 to reach USD 95.72 pb. In this regard, oil analyst Dr. Khaled Bodai told KUNA that the Russian invasion of the Ukraine had greatly impacted oil prices, leading it to surpass the USD 100 pb margin. He predicted that prices might reach USD 120 pb if production of Russian oil was disrupted or banned as a result of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian crisis. If there was a resolution to the crisis via Russia controlling Ukraine or peacefully withdrawing, the prices will go back between USD 90 to 100 per barrel, indicated Bodai. On his part, oil consultant and analyst Dr. Abdulsamee Behbehani said indicated that Russian military operations in the Ukraine had led to supply fears, which pushed prices beyond USD 100 pb, an unprecedented price since 2014. Russia is one of the major oil and natural gas suppliers with many European countries dependent on it for its needs of oil, indicated the analyst, predicting that oil prices might reach a staggering USD 150 per barrel if Russian military operations in the Ukraine continued

Source: Kuwait News Agency