With the escalation of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, theEuropean Union is determined to hit the Moscow economy again to cut the funds for the war Wladimir Putin. But the new package of sanctions which will arrive at the summit of heads of state and government March 24th it still lacks one of its most powerful weapons: the embargo Russian oil. The Foreign Council could not find a businessdivided between the hawks who always want to hit more Villages more energetically dependent on Russian fuel, with which Germany. The issue is being addressed by the heads of state and government, but formal adoption of the new measures seems out of the question. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has already proclaimed: “Such a decision will worsen and worsen Europe’s energy balance it will hit everyone“.
The European unification is at the moment broken by the new sanctions against Moscow with countries like that Lithuaniathe Czech Republic and the Slovakia pushing for a blockade of Russian oil. Vilnius, one of the most determined, now believes “inevitable“The sanctions against the energy sector, especially the oil sector, which can be easily replaced,” do not rule out action against that either China if he would help Russia militarily. The most prudent is Germany, which fears them energetic effects: “If we could stop Russia’s oil imports, we would do it automatically,” the minister said Annalena Baerbock in Brussels. “The question is not whether we want it or not, but how much we are addicted‘ he explained, inviting us to ‘understand how to reduce this dependency’. For its part, Italy is “open to the hypothesis of a “fifth package Sanctions “against Russia”does not veto“But “wait for the Commission proposal,” said the head of the foreign ministry Luigi di Maionoting that the Italian Government is already working on this energy alternatives with other countries to avoid “blackmail”.
The positions of the EU countries Some countries, including theIrelandsaid they advocate at least an import ban petroleum. “Given the extent of the destruction in Ukraine, it is very difficult to argue that we cannot also intervene in the energy sector, especially oil and coal,” said the Irish minister. Simon Coveney arrive at the meeting. Lithuanian Gabrielius Landsbergis For his part, he warned that the West’s credibility was at stake and sanctions needed to be imposed on crude oil, “the main source of oil income for the Russian budget “. The Agency, Berlin However, he continues to resist and warns of the risks of acting too quickly at a time when i Prices Energy in Europe are already very high.
Moscow: “Americans will be better than Europeans” The Europeans “will have a hard time”, warned the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskovif the decision to impose an embargo on Russian oil supplies is taken along the lines of the United States of America who already took it at the beginning of March. Washington is greatly relieved by the fact that its import of Russian oil has already been very limited and has been for years thanks to fracking exporter of liquefied natural gas. “The American they will be much better off than the Europeans. The Europeans will have a hard time. Probably, this is a decision that will affect everyone,” Peskov said. “Such an embargo will have repercussions and affect the global oil market in general very badly.”
Ryad does not intend to make up for the shortcomings L’Saudi Arabia, in this very complicated situation, obviously does not intend to act as a supplier of last resort. In fact, Ryad specified that “he will not assume anything responsibility for the shortage of oil supplies on the world markets after the attacks on Sunday Yemeni Houthis supported by Iran, that influenced the production of the kingdom. The announcement comes as OPEC+, which brings together OPEC members and ten other nonOPEC exporting countries led by Russia, refuses to significantly increase production to ease market pressure and is committed to a 400,000barrel incremental increase per day per month. Earlier this month, l‘Ai He described the cartel’s decisions as “disappointing” as crude prices have soared. “The international community has to take care of him responsibility to maintain energy supplies” and “counter the Houthis,” the State Department reported, quoted by the Saudi state news agency. Repeated Houthi attacks will “affect the kingdom’s productive capacity and its own ability to fulfill its obligations, threat to the “security and stability of the energy supply of the global markets. The Saudi Energy Ministry said the drone and missile strikes on the petrochemical complex in Janbu on the Red Sea coast led to a temporary drop in production. The overall extent of the damage to the facilities remained unclear.
Russian gas supplies are increasing Orders for deliveries of Russian natural gas to Europe through the pipeline north current According to the Bloomberg agency, they are now on the rise and “should have an average of 61 GWh/h. Germany’s reluctance to intervene in energy resources also seems to make it difficult for the countries of southern Europe to agree on a European upper limit for import prices: the countries of the north out Netherlands to Denmark and Finland fears that this would make it unattractive to export gas from the US and other parts of the world as well, as stated by the Dutch Prime Minister Markus Ruette.