The European Union will propose to officially stop the supply of Russian oil to Germany and Poland.
About this, as he writes “European Truth”according to the agency Bloomberg.
Both countries were allowed, as part of a derogation from EU sanctions, to continue receiving oil through the northern section of the Druzhba pipeline. Despite this, both countries have already stopped receiving oil through this section, fulfilling their previous promises to reduce supplies.
According to documents reviewed by the agency, there is a proposal to end the sanctions exemption for these countries. This exemption was granted when the EU decided to ban most Russian oil imports last June.
While such a move would be largely symbolic given that both countries have already cut off supplies, the shutdown itself has forced several refineries through complex logistics to gain access to alternative feedstock. At least one of them, a PCK Schwedt plant near Berlin, has been forced to produce less fuel for the region it serves.
Exceptions allowing the supply of Russian oil through the southern branch of the pipeline, which supplies oil to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, will remain in effect.
In 2022, Germany and Poland imported about 480,000 bpd on average through Druzhba. Imports to the three countries on the southern leg averaged nearly 290,000 bpd, a level that has declined very slightly this year.
The proposal to end the sanctions derogation will be part of the 11th round of EU sanctions against Russia.
Poland has pushed for sanctions against the northern Druzhba route because it would otherwise make it legally difficult for Warsaw to break the contracts and honor the commitment it made last year to stop importing Russian oil. The country canceled the latest contract for the supply of oil in the spring after Russia cut off supplies in February.
Since the supply of Russian oil has ceased, a small amount of Kazakh oil has passed through Druzhba. We are not talking about a ban on this, since imports from other third countries, including if oil is in transit through Russia, are allowed.
We will remind, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday in Kyiv said that the new sanctions will be aimed at combating bypass trade restrictions already in place and developed “in very close coordination” with the G7 countries.
2023-05-12 12:00:31
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