08:58 AM EDT, 10/23/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Oil prices were sharply up early Thursday, rising for a third day after the United States and the European Union imposed fresh sanctions on Russia's oil and gas production in another bid to end its war on Ukraine.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil for December delivery was last seen up US$2.90 to $61.40 per barrel, while December Brent oil was up $2.83 to $65.42.

The Trump Administration Wednesday imposed new sanctions on Russia's two-largest oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil, blocking any dealing with the two companies. The European Union also imposed new sanctions, blocking imports of Russian liquefied natural gas, while India issued fresh promises to end purchases of Russian oil.

"If the Trump administration does indeed back yesterday's words by action, we anticipate that refiners seeking to retain access to US capital markets will forgo Russian barrels. In our recent conversations with senior Trump administration officials, we sensed a heightened urgency to curb the flow of funds that is affording Russia a massive manpower advantage over Ukraine," Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy and MENA research at RBC Capital Markets, wrote.

The fresh sanctions followed the cancellation of a summit meeting in Budapest between Trump and Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart. Trump in past months has frequently promised to end Russia's war on Ukraine while avoiding imposing any firm measures to punish the No.2 oil exporter for its continuing war on Ukraine.

"The action by the United States is the first sanction levied on Russia since Donald Trump returned to the White House and follows a similar policy taken by the UK last week. Simultaneously, the European Union announced its nineteenth sanction package which includes the banning of LNG imports from Russia. Oil prices have rallied in response as the market had become imbued with the idea of any action against Russia has thus far been a deployment of words rather than meaningful restrictions," PVM Oil Associates wrote.