When sanctions were imposed on Russia there was a big exception: Europe was still buying and paying for oil – leading to a bizarre situation. The West was doing everything it could to help Ukraine while still sending Putin hundreds of millions of dollars a day. But how much was that revenue worth to the Kremlin?
As sanctions began to hit Russia, the price of Brent crude (the oil benchmark) soared to $130 a barrel, the highest since the 2008 financial crisis: an increase of over 90 per cent. It’s fallen since then but today it’s still sitting between $107 and $115 dollars a barrel – well above where it had been weeks ago.
But are these price rises making money for the Kremlin? Before Russian troops invaded, the oil price was around $90 a barrel and Russia was estimated to be making some $350 million daily from exporting five million barrels every day. Assuming an average increase of one third in the oil price they could now be making between $450-500 million per day.
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