Covering COVID-19 is a daily Poynter briefing of story ideas about the coronavirus and other timely topics for journalists, written by senior faculty Al Tompkins. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.
Dec. 5 is a date to keep in mind. That is the day when the United States and European countries will impose stricter sanctions on Russia because of its military invasion of Ukraine. That round of sanctions amounts to a full ban of cargo shipments of Russian oil to Europe.
Global oil prices will probably not wait until December to rise, and traders expect Americans to start paying higher prices at the gas pump by early October.
The new sanctions are planned because, despite sanctions already in place, Russian oil continues to find its way into the global markets. Stricter sanctions will cut the Russian oil even further and make global oil supplies even tighter, driving up prices. The Washington Post shows how much that could cost:
The sanctions would be accompanied by a ban on insuring ships that carry Russian oil, preventing them from accessing international waterways. The insurance policies for most of the world’s oil cargo ships are written out of Europe.
As a result, Russia would confront steep new obstacles to moving its oil anywhere. The sanctions are intended to double the amount of Russian oil pulled from the market since the war began.
An internal U.S. Treasury analysis projects that could send the price of oil soaring…
