In response to President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade of Ukraine, Britain and others are seeking ways to deprive Moscow of income and cut their own use of Russian energy exports by becoming more self-sufficient.

“In another economic blow to the Putin regime following their illegal invasion of Ukraine, the UK will move away from dependence on Russian oil throughout this year, building on our severe package of international economic sanctions,” Johnson said in a statement.

“Working with industry, we are confident that this can be achieved over the course of the year, providing enough time for companies to adjust and ensuring consumers are protected.”

Business minister Kwasi Kwarteng called on businesses to use the rest of this year to ensure a smooth transition, and said the government would set up a taskforce to work with firms to find alternative suppliers.

“This transition will give the market, businesses and supply chains more than enough time to replace Russian imports - which make up 8% of UK demand,” Kwarteng said on Twitter.

He also said he was exploring options to end British imports of Russian gas which accounts for about 4% of supply in the country.

In a coordinated move, the United States, the world’s biggest oil consumer, announced a ban on Russian oil imports.

In anticipation of the action by Britain and the United States, oil prices rose with Brent surging past $132 a barrel.

Also on Tuesday, the European Commission published plans to cut the EU’s dependency on Russian gas by two-thirds this year and end its reliance on Russian supplies of the fuel “well before 2030”.

Brent crude was 52 cents, or 0.6%, higher at $82.57 a barrel, by 1110 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 42 cents, or 0.5%, to $81.30 a barrel.

"The oil market will remain tight in the short term, which should lend support to prices," said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

Trafigura's Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Weir said the tightness in global oil markets was due to return of demand to pre-pandemic levels.

"It's not artificially tight because of what OPEC is doing. Demand is there," Weir said at the FT Commodities Asia Summit.

However, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said the oil market rally may ease off as high prices could provide a strong incentive to boost production, particularly in the United States.

The IEA said it expected average Brent prices to be around $71.50 per barrel in 2021 and $79.40 in 2022.

Oil prices slide on expectations of higher crude supply

OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo also said on Tuesday that he expects an oil supply surplus as early as December and the market to remain oversupplied next year.

"The surplus is already beginning in December. These are signals that we have to be very, very careful," he said.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) last week cut its world oil demand forecast for the fourth quarter by 330,000 barrels per day (bpd) from last month's forecast, as high energy prices hampered economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Still, worries about demand destruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic weighed.

Europe has again become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting some governments to consider re-imposing lockdowns, while China is battling the spread of its biggest outbreak caused by the Delta variant.