U.S. petroleum imports from Russia 2000-2021

The United States imported an average of 672,000 barrels of petroleum per day from Russia in 2021, up by over 24 percent from the previous year and the peak volume in the period of consideration. Between 2000 and 2021, figures increased by 600,000 barrels per day. Nonetheless, the U.S. Congress passed a bill banning imports from oil, gas, coal, and other energy commodities from Russia in April 2022 as a reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Other Western countries did the same as an effort to penalize and put economic pressure on Russia. According to a survey from March 2022, 49 percent of U.S. registered voters supported the government's sanctions on Russian oil exports.

Market and price uncertainty

Even though Russia was the fourth leading country for petroleum imports into the U.S. in 2021, the market disruption caused by the imposed sanctions has still severely impacted U.S. average gas prices. In June 2022, gasoline prices reached a new peak of more than five U.S. dollars per gallon. By comparison, diesel prices climbed to around 5.8 U.S. dollars. With the world still grappling with the economic repercussions brought on by the pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war added another layer of uncertainty over market development. According to a June 2022 outlook, the average global GDP growth forecast change due to the Russia-Ukraine war was a 1.44 percent decrease to the projection made before the war. Only five countries out of the 42 included in the study were forecast to have a positive GDP growth.