Energy producers have rushed to lock in oil prices since the United States announced its harshest sanctions yet on Russian energy trade on Friday, which sent oil prices surging to multi-month highs, market participants said.

U.S. and global benchmark crude-oil prices settled Monday at their highest since August as investors focused on the potential supply hit from further tightening of U.S. sanctions on Russia’s oil sector.

Since the United States announced a new package of sanctions on 10 January, at least 65 oil tankers have been anchored in various locations, including off the coasts of China and Russia. Source: Reuters Details: Five of these tankers remain off Chinese ports,