- Sputnik International, 1920
Russia
The latest news and stories from Russia. Stay tuned for updates and breaking news on defense, politics, economy and more.

Russia, India, China Would Benefit From EU Oil Embargo: Report

CC BY-SA 2.0 / Sergio Russo / Green OilBarrels of oil, file photo.
Barrels of oil, file photo. - Sputnik International, 1920, 11.05.2022
Subscribe
Last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed an EU-wide ban on Russian oil imports as part of a new, sixth package of sanctions against Moscow over its military operation in Ukraine. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban slammed the idea, saying it would be “tantamount to dropping a nuclear bomb on the Hungarian economy.”
Russia would benefit economically from an EU oil embargo, at least in the short term, and the proposed ban would fail to stop Russian energy sales to other markets in its current form, a Neue Zurcher Zeitung analysis has concluded.
Studying the proposal and its economic implications, the paper noted that in an already tight crude market, the loss of Russian supplies would spend global oil prices soaring, allowing Moscow to increase revenues on the remaining crude it sells to non-European markets and “the higher price compensating lower [export] volumes.”
On top of that, the gradual implementation of the oil ban, as proposed by Brussels, would allow Russia to earn a tidy profit on more expensive crude for Europe while the EU is stuck paying higher prices as it scaled down imports, the outlet said.
China and India would also benefit, Neue Zurcher Zeitung noted, with the Asian economic giants able to take advantage of discounted Russian oil supplies, as they have already done over the past two months.
Meanwhile, in Europe, “even higher prices for petrol, diesel and kerosene will also fuel inflation and could contribute to a recession”, the outlet wrote.
North Korea to get $100 million annually for Russian gas transit - Sputnik International, 1920, 10.05.2022
Russia
'Emergency Loans & Rationing': Germany 'Devising Crisis Plan' for Abrupt End to Russian Gas Supply
The paper suggested that the central question worth asking was what outcome Brussels hopes to achieve via its embargo, and whether there was another way to achieve that objective besides the radical measure.
On Monday, Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak announced that Russian oil companies were already in the process of creating new supply chains and finding new markets, and that exports have increased in the Asia-Pacific market.
Employees of the oil company Rosneft started drilling the most northern on the Russian Arctic shelf wells Central Olginskaya-1 - Sputnik International, 1920, 09.05.2022
Asia
Russian Oil Companies Find New Buyers, Increase Exports to Asia-Pacific
Spiking prices for Russian oil and gas have also allowed Russia to post the highest current account surplus in recent history, with the Central Bank reporting a current account balance of $58.2 billion in the first quarter of 2022, more than double figures it posted in the first quarter of 2021.
“The EU is aware of the holes in its possible embargo,” Neue Zurcher Zeitung noted. “In a draft version of the plan, the EU Commission has therefore proposed that European companies be banned from global trade in Russian oil with third countries. This includes financing, shipping and insurance services in the context of oil trading.”
But the latter proposals have apparently been shelved, with sources telling the Financial Times Monday that intense lobbying by Malta and Greece - which account for over half of the EU-flagged tonnage of tankers, led to the shipping restrictions idea being dropped. The proposed ban on insurance services reportedly remains on the table however, with EU diplomats said to be lobbying Britain in hopes that Lloyds of London signs on to put the squeeze on Russian exporters.
Saudi Aramco engineers and journalists look at the Hawiyah Natural Gas Liquids Recovery Plant, which is designed to process 4.0 billion standard cubic feet per day of sweet gas, a natural gas that does not contain significant amounts of hydrogen sulfide, in Hawiyah, in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, June 28, 2021. - Sputnik International, 1920, 07.05.2022
OPEC Won't Boost Oil Production to Help the West Contain Rising Energy Prices - Report
There are ways around secondary restrictions as well, Neue Zurcher Zeitung noted, pointing to Iran’s years of successful resistance to US sanctions on its crude exports via barter transactions, the transshipment of crude to disguise its origins, fake registries, the switching off of tanker satellite tracking equipment, etc.
The newspaper proposed that a levy on Russian energy, rather than embargo, could serve as an alternative, designed to reduce the Russian state’s profits while leaving delivery quantities unaffected. Another option is to somehow reduce demand or increase supply. But such measures are easier said than done, and beyond the capabilities of the EU, which produces little of the black gold it consumes.
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban talks to journalists as he arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. - Sputnik International, 1920, 07.05.2022
'Like Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hungarian Economy': EU Reportedly Rewrites Proposed Russian Oil Ban
Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала