European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the ban, which primarily impacts the seaborne oil trade, should be in place by the end of the year
In a press conference with European Council President Charles Michel, President von der Leyen said EU leaders have been able to agree in principle on the the terms for the EU’s sixth sanctions package since Russia began its war in Ukraine.
“Thanks to this, the council should now be able to finalise a ban on almost 90% of all Russian oil imports by the end of the year. This is an important step forward. We will soon return to the issue of the remaining 10% of pipeline oil,” President von der Leyen said.
In addition to the ban on Russian oil, President von der Leyen said the council has agreed a ban on insurance and reinsurance of Russian ships by EU companies and a ban on providing Russian companies “with a whole range of business services,” that includes Russia’s Sberbank from the international SWIFT payments system.
Some 75% (2.1M b/d) of Russia’s total crude exports (2.8M b/d) to Europe in 2020 came by ship, with around 25% (0.7M b/d) by pipeline, according to analysis by European economics think tank Bruegel.
Brussels-based environmental transport-focused NGO Transport & Environment said, “The EU is dependent on imports for 97% of its oil products. One out of four barrels of crude oil that supplies the Bloc comes from Russia.”
“The EU is connected by pipelines to Russian oil, but most of the imports into the bloc are via oil tankers and ports. About 70% to 85% of imported crude oil from Russia is shipped from its western ports on the Baltic sea and the Black sea and in smaller volumes from its Arctic terminals, while the remaining is directly delivered through the Druzhba pipeline.”
Announcing the EU’s proposed sanctions against Russia in early May 2022, President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc will “phase out Russian supply of crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of the year”
The EU’s propsed measures were outlined in a speech for the European Parliament, published on the Commission’s website.
In the speech, President von der Leyen outlined four points in the EU’s sixth round of sanctions against Russia in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ongoing attack on Ukraine.
“We are addressing our dependency on Russian oil. Let us be clear: it will not be easy. Some member states are strongly dependent on Russian oil. But we simply have to work on it. We now propose a ban on Russian oil,” President von der Leyen said.
“This will be a complete import ban on all Russian oil, seaborne and pipeline, crude and refined. We will make sure we phase out Russian oil in an orderly fashion, in a way that allows us and our partners to secure alternative supply routes and minimises the impact on global markets.”
TheUK announced a ban on Russia-linked vessels coming into its ports in early March but was slow in setting out clear directions on how to implement the ban, pushing responsibility on to port authorities to identify and refuse vessels even when highly complex ownership structures can make isolating ties to Russian interests difficult.
The European Commission has proposed a draft plan to makeEurope independent of Russian fossil fuels “well before 2030,” starting with gas, in light of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The draft plan was announced in early March on the same day theUS committed to a total embargo on Russian energy and the UK announced a phase-out of Russian oil and gasto be complete by the end of 2022.
Both US and UK imports of Russian energy supplies make up a far smaller percentage than those taken by the EU.
