Oil prices fell back slightly on Thursday, a day after settling at multi-month highs on U.S. President Joe Biden's latest sanctions targeting Russia and a larger than forecast fall in U.S. crude stocks.

Scott Bessent, Donald Trump’s nominee for Treasury secretary said he supports dialling up the sanctions on the Russian oil industry to end the war in Ukraine.

It remains to be seen how the incoming Trump administration will handle enforcement.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday a day after hitting four-month highs as the market focused on the impact of new U.S. sanctions on Russian oil exports to key buyers India and China.Brent futures were down 36 cents,

Washington also took action against a sanctions evasion scheme established between actors in Russia and China, targeting regional clearing platforms in the two countries that it s

The US Treasury Department announced new sanctions against Russia. The list includes, among others, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation of the Russian Federation,

Sweeping U.S. sanctions on Russia's oil industry will make it more expensive for Moscow to sell its oil and complicate sea-borne crude exports due to restrictions on tankers, analysts and traders said on Monday.

The cost of transporting Russian oil through the "shadow fleet" has tripled following the implementation of the latest American sanctions package, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, noting that experts anticipate further price increases.

Sanctions imposed by the United States on 10th January against the Russian oil sector have halted about one-tenth of Russia's shadow fleet. The value of the oil it transports could exceed £2.9 billion.

New and more expansive US sanctions against Russia are likely to significantly disrupt oil supplies, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday. The IEA said in its monthly Oil Market Report: Washington targeted two major oil producers (Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz),