Oil prices drifted lower in early trading on Sunday evening, a respite from the volatility of recent weeks as Russia continues its push into Ukraine.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, traded at around $111 a barrel, down about 1 percent, early Sunday morning. It was worth about $65 a barrel in December before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what President Biden called a “vicious war of choice” in Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, traded around $108, down about 1.5 percent.
Oil prices, which rose last week as markets braced for US sanctions, are showing signs of leveling off. On Tuesday, President Biden turned off the tap on Russian oil supplies to the United States as punishment for the war in Ukraine. He also banned the import of Russian natural gas and coal.
Mr. Biden initially resisted calls for such aggressive sanctions on Russian oil, fearing they would drive up fuel prices, a potentially polarizing issue in an election year. But as Russia intensified its attacks on Ukraine, he announced wide-ranging sanctions that he warned would inevitably cause more inconvenience to Americans.
“I said I would speak to the American people from the very beginning,” he said last week. “And when I first spoke about it, I said that defending freedom would come at a cost.”
On Sunday, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was $4.325, according to the AAA. That’s more than a week earlier, when gas prices hit $4,009, nearly the highest level since 2008 but down a tenth of a cent from Saturday.
Even before Mr. Biden’s decision, the United States imported only a small amount of Russian oil, less than 10 percent of its total energy resources. But this move, aimed at further isolating Russia economically, effectively prevents the country from profiting from US oil purchases.