just days after being criticized for buying a cargo of cheap russian oil energy giant shell has said it will immediately stop all russian oilandgas purchases and close its service stations across the country in response to moscows invasion of ukraine the move comes after us lawmakers introduced a bill that would ban imports of russian oil and as major trading houses and shipping firms shy away from doing business in russian commodities heightening supply risks also in focus is an unprecedented jump in nickel prices which led the london metal exchange to halt trading in the metal the lme said it was considering a multiday closure of nickel trading nickel on the lme more than doubled to more than 100000 a metric ton in a matter of hours gold gained 09 to 201350 a troy ounce putting the metal within sight of its alltime closing high of 206940 an ounce shell to withdraw from russian oil and gas halts all spot purchases shell plc said tuesday that it intends to withdraw from russian oil and gas in a phased manner in response to the russian invasion of ukraine including immediately halting all spot market purchases of russian crude the energy major said it will also shut its service stations aviation fuels and lubricants operations in russia beginning immediately and that it wont renew any russian term contracts at the same time it will change its crudeoil supply chain to remove russian volumes as quickly as possible though it cautioned that the physical location and availability of alternatives mean it could take weeks to complete and will lead to reduced throughput at some of its refineries the london metal exchange halted trading of nickel after the metal more than doubled in value in a matter of hours as the war in ukraine fueled concerns of supply disruptions for the metal a key component of electricvehicle batteries house lawmakers introduce bill that would ban imports of russian crude house lawmakers monday introduced a bipartisan bill that would ban us imports of russian crude oil petroleum products liquefied natural gas and coal rep josh gottheimer d nj the bills sponsor said the legislation amassed 45 cosponsors over the weekend33 democrats and 12 republicans he said it is being endorsed by the bipartisan problem solvers caucus the us shifts focus to venezuelan oil but output is low even as the us considers lifting sanctions so venezuela gets oil flowing the reality is that the countrys oil sector is illprepared to start churning out more crude and lower fastrising oil prices amid the ukraine war years of mismanagement corruption and nationalization of oil ventures caused venezuelas oil industrywhich in the 1990s produced 32 million barrels a dayto crash by 2020 when output fell to just onetenth of what it had been production has now more than doubled to about 800000 barrels a day but that is less than 1 of the 100 million barrels dozens of countries produce worldwide daily how oil giants bets on russia years in the making crumbled in days western oil giants spent decades building inroads to russias fossilfuel wealth those collaborations collapsed in days following russias invasion of ukraine leaving them with no clear path to recoup billions of dollars even as russian troops were amassing on ukraines border last month executives at bp plc shell plc and exxon mobil corp believed they could weather the fallout said people close to the companies but in less than 60 hours last week all announced they were exiting russian operations under pressure from the us and uk governments as international condemnation of russian president vladimir putins aggression grew 0729 gmt  oil prices rise on fears of a ban on russian oil exports brent crude oil gains 35 to 12748 a barrel while wti adds 3 to 12292 a barrel comments from german chancellor olaf scholz on monday are tempering gains scholz appeared to pour cold water on the idea that germany would join a usled ban of russian oil still analysts warn that there were no sources that could compensate for lost russian supply there arent sufficient sources of incremental supply to cover a substantial prolonged loss of russian oil particularly the 4 million bd russian oil imports into europe says sp global commodity insights williamhornerwsjcom brent could hit 135 as ukraine conflict escalates goldman says 0552 gmt  brent prices have further upside driven by the escalating military conflict in ukraine goldman sachs says there is a growing realization that imposed sanctions could meaningfully and sustainably reduce russian exports the investment bank says given russias key role in global energy supply the global economy could soon be faced with one of the largest energy supply shocks ever goldman forecasts a disruption of 16 million barrelsday to oil supply and raises its 2022 brent spot price forecast to 135bbl from 98bbl it also raises its 2023 brent forecast to 115bbl from 105bbl frontmonth brent crude rises 29 to 12681bbl yongchangchinwsjcom oil rises as traders weigh possible sanctions on russian crude 0406 gmt  oil rises reversing losses from earlier in the asian session as traders weigh the possibility of us sanctions on russian crude even as germany earlier said it has no plans to limit russian energy imports anz says meanwhile libyan oil output is affected by damage to its pipelines further tightening global oil markets the bank adds supply shortages also appear to be hurting refinedproduct markets with reports that shell is limiting sales of heating oil in germany to ensure it can meet other contractual obligations anz says frontmonth brent rises 24 to 12613bbl and frontmonth wti gains 17 to 12447bbl yongchangchinwsjcom 0333 gmt  global pigiron prices have climbed by roughly 20 in the past month as the russiaukraine conflict exacerbates an alreadytight supply chain ubs says this is contributing to a more rapid normalization in us spreads for steelmakers the swiss bank says russia and ukraine account for roughly 60 of us pig iron imports it notes rhiannonhoylewsjcom rhiannonhoyle 0204 gmt  nickel climbs on concerns over disruptions to supply from russia markets were tight even before russias invasion of ukraine as global stockpiles had fallen substantially from april 2021 cba says russia accounts for 56 of global nickel supply but it has a bigger share of roughly 17 in highpurity or class 1 nickel production cba adds noting that class 1 nickel supply is more important to global nickel markets due to electricvehiclebattery production frontmonth lme nickel contract is up 23 at 4920000 a ton ronnieharuiwsjcom write to will horner at williamhornerwsjcom