The world this week--BusinessThe decision by America and Britain to ban Russian oil imports rattled markets.At one point Brent crude briefly came close to $140 a barrel; Russia warned that the ban would send it hurtling towards $300.But prices retreated when the United Arab Emirates became the first member of OPEC to support ramping up production.Earlier, the International Energy Agency said that its member countries were ready to release more oil from their emergency stockpiles to help tame prices.Shell, meanwhile, said it would withdraw fully from Russia.This came after the energy giant was criticised for buying a ship’s cargo of heavily discounted Russian oil to supply one of its refineries.European markets for natural gas underwent huge price movements.Benchmark Dutch futures briefly hit a record high of 345 euros (380 dollars) a megawatt hour before falling back; prices swung back and forth within a spread of 200 euros.The price a year ago was around 17 euros.Trading in other commodities was also volatile.Shipments of wheat from Russia, the world’s biggest exporter, and Ukraine, the fifth-biggest, have ground to a halt, pushing crop prices to a record.The London Metal Exchange was forced to halt trading in nickel when prices more than doubled to over $100,000 a tonne; Russia is the biggest supplier of the top-quality nickel used in things like electric-car batteries.
