On Thursday, oil prices continue to rise, renewing new highs.

 Large foreign buyers are boycotting Russian oil because of the situation around Ukraine, trying to find alternative sources of supplies, which is likely to contribute to further price increases, Interfax reports.

 The price of May futures for Brent oil on the London ICE Futures exchange by 08:10 Moscow time on Thursday is $117.26 per barrel, which is $4.33 (3.83%) higher than the closing price of the previous session.  As a result of trading on Wednesday, these contracts rose by $7.96 (7.6%) to $112.93 per barrel, which is the highest since June 2014.

 The price of futures for WTI oil for April in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is $114.45 per barrel by this time, which is $3.85 (3.48%) higher than the final value of the previous session.  On the eve of the cost of these contracts increased by $7.19 (7%), to $110.6 per barrel, which is the highest value at the close of the session since May 2011.

 The decision of the International Energy Agency (IEA) to release 60 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves failed to calm market fears.

 «There is a real fear that the market will face a supply shortage,» said Kim Kwangrai, a commodity analyst at Samsung Futures Inc. In Seoul. «If the situation in Ukraine deteriorates, we will see a further rally in the oil market».

 At the same time, the OPEC+ countries do not intend to accelerate the pace of increasing oil production, on Wednesday they decided to maintain the plan to increase production quotas in April by 400,000 bpd.

 During Wednesday's meeting, it was noted that «the current fundamentals of the oil market and the consensus on its prospects indicate a well-balanced market, and that the current volatility is not caused by changes in market fundamentals, but by current geopolitical events».