NEW YORK, March 9 — The United States will not pressure allies to follow its actions when it comes to banning Russian oil and energy imports, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said yesterday.

"We (the US) don’t rely that much on Russian oil and we don’t rely on Russian gas at all. We know that our allies across the world may not be in that same position. And so we are not asking them to do the same thing,” Granholm told CNBC in an interview.

US President Joe Biden yesterday imposed an immediate ban on Russian oil and other energy imports in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine.

Granholm also said the United States was speaking to other nations about additional reserve releases globally.

"We are in active discussions with our allies. As you know, we just did a release of 60 million barrels collectively as a collective action with the International Energy Agency last week,” Granholm said.

"And we will be having further discussions both internally to the US but also with our allies.”

Granholm said Washington called upon all producers across the globe to increase supply.

"We’ve got to make up for eight and a half million barrels of Russian oil that could potentially come off,” she added.

An immediate ban on Russian oil and other energy imports will drive up US energy prices but Biden said it was necessary to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for the invasion of Ukraine. Moscow describes its actions as a "special operation” to disarm Ukraine and unseat leaders it calls neo-Nazis. — Reuters