World's biggest oil traders are set to cut out Russian oil purchases from the middle of May, report says.

The world's largest oil trading houses are set to reduce the amount of oil they buy from Russia from May 15th, according to a report.

Shell has already stopped buying Russian crude oil, and the world's largest oil trader, Vitol, said on Wednesday that it would completely phase out crude oil from the country by the end of 2022, with the likes of Trafigura following suit.

The report said that the major oil trading houses are going to cut their purchases in order to avoid breaking the European Union's sanctions against Russia.

The EU allows purchases of crude oil from Russia if they are necessary to maintain sufficient energy supplies. Since they act as a middleman for these purchases, trading houses have decided to slash the amount they purchase.

The EU nations discussed a potential oil embargo against Russia, while the US banned all energy imports from the country, and the UK vowed to cut energy imports from Russia by the end of the year.

Last week, the EU took its first steps in banning Russian energy imports in response to the war in Ukraine as the bloc agreed to stop imports of coal completely this year.

The EU Parliament voted in favor of banning the import of fossil fuels from Russia as the invasion of Ukraine continued. Although the parliament holds less power than the EU Commission, this may be an indication of the mood in Europe and a sign of things to come.

Russia is a major supplier of oil to many European countries. A group of economic institutions that advise the government said on Thursday that Germany could lose $240 billion over two years if Russian gas were stopped.

Around 30% of the EU's oil needs come from Russia. Russia supplies more oil to the bloc than Iraq, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia put together. The main destinations are Germany and the Netherlands.

West Texas Intermediate dropped 1.14% to trade at about $103.03 a barrel, after a surprise build in weekly US inventories.

The Insider contacted the three companies for comment but did not get a response.

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