Oil prices surged around 4 percent on Monday after the west imposed more sanctions on Russia, a key energy producer. As of 1310 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, gained $2.22 (+2.27 percent) to reach $100.15 a barrel. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main oil benchmark for North America, reached $95.27 a barrel, up by $3.68 (+4.02 percent). The price for Opec Basket was recorded at $101.22 a barrel with an increase of 1.88 percent, Arab Light was available at $99.12 a barrel with an increase of 1.55 percent and the price of Russian Sokol surged to $100.80 a barrel with 1.50 percent increase. The US, European Union, UK and some other countries imposed more sanctions on Russia, saying they would block some Russian banks from the SWIFT messaging system, a move that makes it more difficult for countries to purchase Russian oil. “While details on the implementation of these additional sanctions have not been released, with carve-outs likely still allowing for energy and food trades, the hurdles that these sanctions will create for financial payments are likely to exacerbate the recent Russian commodity supply shock, already visible as Western and Chinese traders halting shipments,” said analysts at Goldman Sachs. The Goldman analysts hiked their one-month Brent price forecast to $115 from $95, arguing there would need to be up to 4 million barrels of demand destruction to offset the loss of Russian exports. Even a redirection of oil flows to the East would still tighten global markets, the analysts argue, because it would require a 12-day increase in transit time, the equivalent to the loss of 90 million barrels. The Opec+ will meet on Wednesday; however, the group is not expected to be able to control the wild swings in oil prices. The Opec+ members boosted their production by 64,000 barrels per day (bpd) in December and January, which was far below the target of a 400,000-bpd increase that the group has been aiming for since May 2021 when it embarked on a gradual reopening of the taps to accompany the global economic recovery after the shock of the first waves of Covid-19. Since May 2021, the level of crude produced by OPEC members has been just shy of 750,000 bpd under the authorised limit.