In terms of getting American politicians to find common ground, Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has done a fine job. This leads to a question that has gathered surprising speed over the past few days: Should the United States, as part of its economic sanctions against Russia, stop buying their oil products?
The knee-jerk answer is, absolutely. The U.S. and its allies in Europe already have frozen Russian assets and locked Russia out of the international financial system. But as long as countries are buying energy from Russia, they’re bankrolling Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Here’s some of the information policymakers are considering:
While the United States imports Russian oil and petroleum products, it is not a large amount of our total usage. In 2021, the U.S. imported from Russia 209,000 barrels per day of crude oil and 500,000 barrels per day of other petroleum products, according to the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers trade association.
That amounts to only 3% of American crude oil imports — and 1% of all crude oil processed at U.S. refineries. For comparison, 60% of our imported oil comes from Canada, while another 10% is from Mexico and 6% is from Saudi Arabia.
However, to use only the crude oil as a measurement of what we pay Russia, 209,000 barrels per day amounts to 76.3 million barrels per year. At $100 per barrel (prices currently have risen to $120), Russia is getting $7.6 billion a year from the U.S. — and billions more from its other customers around the world. Those profits buy a lot of military hardware.
The main argument in favor of continuing to buy from Russia is that it serves our immediate self-interest. Why risk higher prices now?
The cost of gasoline has risen sharply in the past year as the Biden administration began to pay more attention to renewable energy sources. But Russia’s misadventures have put fuel prices into overdrive: Gasoline went up 60 cents per gallon last week alone.
Choosing not to buy from Russia — a decision best made with the support of both parties in Congress as well as President Biden — would only remove 1% of the oil from the U.S. market. It seems likely that domestic production could increase to make up for that loss, and even more. But if we stop buying from Russia, some of our allies are sure follow our lead, and if recent events have proven anything, it’s that there’s no way to forecast the future.
So the real question is, are Americans and their elected leaders willing to support Ukraine’s sovereignty despite the possibility of further gasoline price increases? What if it goes to $5 or $6 per gallon? Or $8? This increases the risk of tipping the domestic economy back into recession.
Sometimes, though, you just have to do what’s right and accept the consequences. There’s no way Putin expected such a united response against him, and there’s even less chance he believed we would punish his bank account by giving up his oil.
So we ought to do exactly that — stop buying oil from Russia. It would send a message to him and especially to one other country whose leaders share his mindset.
Looking to the long term, what other large country has invasive ambitions? That would be China, which has already violated its agreement with Great Britain by restricting freedom in Hong Kong. China’s leaders make no secret of capturing the island of Taiwan as well.
Nobody wants American troops, planes and missiles doing battle with either Russia or China. That risks mutually assured destruction. Our most powerful weapon against them is our economy, and you can bet China is watching closely to see how we might deploy it.
— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal
