Friday brought another rise in Oil prices with a gain of around 4%, as record high prices were seen in US Gasoline. Investors are still rightly concerned that supplies will tighten if the EU does indeed go ahead and ban Russian imports.

This was the third consecutive weekly increase in Oil prices, and also the highest close since late March. Brent dropped and it’s been a while, around 2 or 3 weeks since the highs. The volatility in oil prices is due to concerns that an EU ban on Russian oil might reduce supplies, but also there are still fears of a new wave of COVID-19 in China and other areas which could reduce demand across the globe.

The one overall factor is support of higher oils prices is still by far the fear of the European ban of Russian oil importing. Reuters was informed Friday by EU diplomats that it’s likely an embargo could be implemented on Russian crude oil entering the EU in the next few weeks. The only member state voting against this ban is Hungary.

A rash of warnings about a possible diesel shortage, which is vital for the U.S. economy and warnings about impending electricity shortages in the United States are propping up crude oil prices also.

Don’t think that an increase in US oil supply will save the day. Even if you believe the US would increase its production by a few hundred thousand barrels per daily, that is still below current forecasts.