Oil prices hit multi-year highs as US sanctions target Russian refiners

SINGAPORE (Reuters): US sanctions targeting Russian refineries, disruptions to shipping and a fall in US crude stocks to multi-year lows kept oil prices racing on Thursday as Brent charged towards $ 120 a barrel, its highest in almost a decade. Brent crude futures rose as high as $ 119.84 a barrel, the highest since May 2012. The contract was at $ 119.78 a barrel, up $ 6.85, or 6.1%, by 0752 GMT.

US West Texas Intermediate crude hit a high of $ 116.57, the loftiest since September 2008, and was at $ 116.41 a barrel, up $ 5.81, or 5.3%.

The gains followed the latest round of US sanctions on Russia’s oil refining sector that raised concerns that Russian oil and gas exports could be targeted next.

Russia is the world’s third biggest oil producer and the largest exporter of oil to global markets, according to the International Energy Agency. Russian crude and oil products exports reached 7.8 million barrels per day in December, the agency said.