Commodity prices have continued to surge as the conflict in Ukraine intensifies.
Brent crude, the global benchmark oil price, rose to more than $118 a barrel, a high not seen since 2013, as increasing numbers of western companies stopped buying Russian oil.
UK gas prices jumped by 38% to more than 400p per therm yesterday — more than ten times higher than a year earlier — and spiked as high as 463p, almost breaching the all-time highs set before Christmas.
Russia is the world’s second-largest oil exporter and the second-biggest natural gas producer. Pipeline imports of gas from Russia account for more than a third of the EU’s gas needs.
OPEC
Even though oil prices have surged, a powerful cartel of oil-producing countries say they will only increase their output by a modest amount.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, led by Russia, known as Opec+, will not be turning on the taps.
The 23-country-strong cartel will add 400,000 barrels of oil per-day to the market from April.
The group is sticking firmly to an agreement signed by its members in 2021 - to continue gradual restoration of output that was halted during the pandemic.
Many countries produced fewer barrels of oil during the pandemic as demand dropped sharply during lockdowns.