European countries are buying Russian crude oil in large quantities three months ahead of oil ban amid Western sanctions against Russia.
Right now, Europe is importing more than one million barrels of Russian crude daily and this trend has been going on for the last month. European countries are storing Russian oil ahead of ban, to be in place from Dec 2022.
Publicly the European countries are condemning Russia for its actions in Ukraine and assuring their constituents that sanctions are working, European (and other) politicians, nonetheless, are making no mention of the continuing Russian oil purchases.
Yet, Russia is exporting some 3.32 million barrels of crude daily by sea, which means Europe is buying a third of that and this means that nothing has changed since June when the embargo was approved.
At present oil prices are slumping because of fresh lockdowns in China and expectations of rate hikes by central banks, but once the embargo door shuts, chances are that prices will rebound just when Europe finds it most painful. And that is exactly why it’s stocking up now on the oil it’s about to ban.
It’s not only oil that Europe is stocking up on, either. All fossil fuels are in greater and more urgent demand on the continent than they have been for years. The FT called it “the unavoidable evil of wartime fossil fuels” in a recent report and the European Union has kept repeating that the emission reduction plans are still in place although it is increasingly looking like they’ve taken the back seat to energy security.
India’s Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said “Europeans buy more oil in one afternoon than I do in a quarter. I’d be surprised if that is not the condition still.”
