U.S. petroleum imports from Russia 2000-2022

The United States imported an average of 147,000 barrels of petroleum per day from Russia in 2022. 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 among the leading countries for petroleum imports into the U.S., market disruptions caused by the imposed sanctions have 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.