Oil prices were lower at the start of trading on Sunday evening, a respite from the volatility of recent weeks as Russia's assault on Ukraine continues.
Early Sunday night, the international benchmark was trading at about $111 a barrel, down roughly 1 percent. In December, it cost $65 a barrel. The American benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, was down about 1.5 percent.
The markets braced for American sanctions last week and the price of oil went up. On Tuesday, President Biden shut off the spigot of Russian oil into the United States as punishment for the war in Ukraine. Russian natural gas and coal were banned by him.
Mr. Biden initially resisted calls for such aggressive sanctions on Russian oil because he was concerned that they would push fuel prices higher in an election year. He warned that the sanctions would bring more pain at the pump for Americans.
He said last week that he would level with the American people from the beginning.
On Sunday, the average price of a gallon of gas was $4.325. That is up from a week earlier when gas prices hit $4.00, nearly the highest level since 2008, but down a tenth of a cent from Saturday.
The United States imported a small amount of Russian oil before Mr. Biden's decision. The step prevents Russia from making money from American oil purchases.
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