Vox Sentences - Why oil and gas prices are soaring

The Ukraine-Russia conflict and ongoing recovery from the coronavirus pandemic send oil and gas prices to near-record highs; Russia issues strong demands for ending war with Ukraine.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

War in Ukraine and the global recovery from the coronavirus pandemic send oil and gas prices soaring

Mario Tama/Getty Images

• Oil and gas prices are approaching record highs amid concerns that the war in Ukraine could lead Western powers to ban imports from Russia. [AP / Stan Choe and Alex Veiga]
• Prices were already surging as the global economy recovered from the coronavirus pandemic. Now markets are volatile out of fear that a ban on Russian oil and gas could drive prices even further. [ABC / Elizabeth Schulze]
• Russia continues its bombardment of Ukrainian cities, and US lawmakers are looking for ways to increase economic pressure on the Kremlin. Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said House lawmakers are weighing a US ban on Russian oil and gas imports. A bipartisan group of lawmakers has already introduced a bill to do so in the Senate. [The Hill / Monique Beals]
• In response to the possibility of a ban, Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, briefly reached $139 a barrel Monday before easing to $125. Some experts predict the price per barrel could reach $200 before demand falls. [CNN / Julia Horowitz]
• Meanwhile, the average US gas price topped $4 per gallon on Monday, a 45-cent increase in just a week. Experts predict a US ban wouldn’t raise prices, but if US allies work together to ban Russian exports, gas prices could soon average a record $5.84 per gallon. [NPR / Scott Horsley]
• So far, European countries seem unwilling to go as far as US lawmakers. On Monday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that Europe still relies on Russian supply and needs time to ease that dependency. [BBC]

Russia-Ukraine talks end with no breakthrough

• The Russian invasion of Ukraine is now on its 12th day. A third round of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Belarus achieved no breakthrough on Monday. [USA Today / John Bacon, Tom Vanden Brook, and Kelly Tyko]
• The Kremlin demanded Ukraine cease its military operations and amend its constitution so the county cannot join NATO or the European Union. Russia offered to create routes for civilians to flee. However, two proposed routes were to sites in Ukraine, and others led to Russia and its close ally Belarus. Ukraine rejected the demands and refugee options. [Guardian / Jon Henley and Peter Beaumont]
• An estimated 1.5 million people have fled the war in Ukraine; Poland, Romania, and Slovakia have taken in hundreds of thousands. [Reuters /Muvija M and William James]
• Western efforts to provide Ukraine with weapons are facing significant challenges. Most countries can’t enter Ukrainian airspace for delivery, and ground access to conflict zones is limited due to fleeing civilians and Russian convoys. [Washington Post / Steven Zeitchik, Yasmeen Abutaleb, and Annie Linskey]
• Arming Ukrainians could now be more critical than ever. According to a Pentagon official, nearly all of the 190,000 Russian troops amassed at the border have entered Ukraine. Russian forces have as yet been unable to capture Ukraine’s two largest cities, Kharkiv and Kyiv. [CNBC / Christina Wilkie]

The 65 Project, a dark money group with ties to the Democratic Party, is working to disbar over 100 lawyers involved with Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. [ Axios / Lachlan Markay and Jonathan Swan]

• Country music superstar Dolly Parton has released her first novel Run, Rose, Run, written with bestselling author James Patterson. [CBS /Reid Orvedahl]
• House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy faces limited options for censuring GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green and Paul Gosar for speaking at a white nationalist event. [Politico / Olivia Beavers]
• Former Attorney General Bill Barr said Donald Trump is morally, but not legally, responsible for the January 6 riot at the Capitol. Although he doesn’t think the ex-president should be the GOP nominee in 2024, Barr said he would vote for Trump if he wins the nomination. [NBC / Dareh Gregorian]

”The painful reality is we are still very much dependent on Russian gas and Russian oil, and if you now force European companies to quit doing business with Russia, that would have enormous ramifications around Europe including Ukraine but also around the world.”

[Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte explains why a European ban on Russian oil and gas imports is unlikely]

Sean Illing talks with firearms journalist Stephen Gutowski, founder of TheReload.com, about the major barriers, principles, and blind spots on both sides of the largely stagnant national conversation on guns and gun control in the United States. [Spotify]

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