Brent rose above $81 per barrel on Monday as the global oil market responded to the latest aggressive sanctions on Russia’s oil industry by the United States.

This is coming after oil marketers in India and China got a wave of the sanctions on Friday, the global oil benchmark crossed $80 a barrel as they held emergency meetings to assess the situation.

This is the highest price in more than four months, as U.S. sanctions on Russia and Iran project global oil prices to sour.

The latest sanctions target large exporters of Russian oil, including those of Asia origin, insurance companies, and more than 150 tankers.

According to Bloomberg, the latest sanctions are a desperate and aggressive attempt by President Joe Biden to give Ukraine the upper hand in possible peace negotiations before he leaves office next week.

Independent refiners in China reportedly held emergency meetings to assess the new sanctions to see if they could still take delivery of crude en route when the penalties were announced.

Traders in India reportedly had similar meetings and were bracing for major disruption in oil importation, which could last up to six months.