A gradual embargo on Russian oil is expected to be approved by European Union countries next week, according to the New York Times.
As the US newspaper reports, it is a measure that the EU has long been considering but due to the dependence of many countries on Russia's energy sources, it has not gone ahead.
It has taken weeks for the EU to come up with a
.It took the EU weeks for countries to agree
on the contours of the measure and intensive talks will continue over the weekend before the European Commission puts a final proposal on the table for adoption. The meeting is expected to take place on Wednesday and final approval is expected by the end of the week, according to the New York Times, which cited European officials.
The oil embargo would be the largest and most significant new step in the EU's sixth package of sanctions since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. The package will also include sanctions against Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, which has so far been cleared, as well as additional measures against high-profile Russians, officials said.
Barring an unlikely last-minute demand by Hungary, the process should be completed without requiring a meeting of European Union leaders, thus avoiding the time-consuming process of a Brussels summit, the New York Times says.
The embargo is likely to affect Russian oil transported by tankers more quickly than oil from pipelines, which will be affected in a matter of months. In both cases, however, it is likely that the EU bloc will allow its members to terminate existing contracts with Russian oil companies, as it did with the coal ban, which had four months to be fully implemented.
Germany's position was critical to finalizing the new measure, as Berlin imported about a third of the country's oil from Russia at the time of the invasion of Ukraine. However, its energy minister, Robert Habeck, said this week that Germany had been able to reduce it to just 12 percent in recent weeks, making a full embargo "manageable."
[BR][BR]"The problem that seemed too big for Germany just a few weeks ago has become much smaller." Habeck told the media during a visit to Warsaw on Tuesday. He added that "Germany has come very, very close to independence from Russian oil imports." But he did not explain how it was able to achieve it so quickly.
Russia is Europe's largest oil supplier, providing about a quarter of the bloc's annual needs, according to 2020 figures, about half of Russia's total exports. As the oil embargo is phased in, officials said the bloc will seek to make up the shortfall by increasing imports from other sources, including Persian Gulf countries, Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
The embargo, even if mitigated by a period of gradual imports, is likely to put pressure on global oil prices, exacerbating already high energy costs around the world.
Source: protothema.gr
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