Sharjah24 – AFP: Crude oil prices surged Tuesday as the United States banned Russian energy imports, while nickel prices rocketed to a record peak on Russian supply fears.

While remaining below Monday's peak of $139.13 a barrel, the main international oil contract, Brent, jumped 4.7 percent to close at $128.06, below the high point of the day.

The main US contract, WTI, rose by 4.1 percent to $124.36.

President Joe Biden announced a ban on US imports of Russian oil while Britain said it will phase them out by the end of the year.

EU nations, which receive roughly 40 percent of their gas imports and one quarter of their oil from Russia, instead opted to set a goal of cutting their Russian gas imports by two-thirds.

Meanwhile, Moscow warned earlier that in retaliation for sanctions imposed on it for the invasion, it could cut off natural gas supplies to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

While the United States imports less than 10 percent of its petroleum from Russian, analysts said the move was nevertheless important.

The rise in oil prices pulled the rug out from under a rebound in European and US equity prices.

And amid increasing pressure to isolate Moscow economically after the invasion of Ukraine, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Starbucks joined the growing number of major firms closing up shop in Russia.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6 percent, closing near its lowest point in a year.

London managed to squeak out a gain of 0.1 percent, Frankfurt ended the day flat and Paris shed 0.3 percent.