Europe starts drafting a ban on Russian oil imports.
Source: New York Times
BRUSSELS — European Union officials are drafting the most contested measure yet to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, an embargo on Russian oil products. The bloc has long resisted a ban on Russian oil because of its enormous costs for Germany and its potential to disrupt politics around the region and increase energy prices.
But E.U. officials and diplomats say the union is now moving toward adopting a phased-in ban designed to give Germany and other countries time to arrange alternative suppliers. The union took a similar approach earlier this month when it banned Russian coal, providing for a four-month transition period.
The oil embargo would not be put up for negotiation among the E.U. member states until after the final round of the French elections, on April 24, to ensure that the impact on gas prices does not help the right-wing populist candidate Marine Le Pen and hurt president Emmanuel Macron’s chances of re-election, officials said.
The timeline is as important as the details of the ban, and is indicative of the brinkmanship required to convince all 27 E.U. countries to agree to take the previously unthinkable step, as Russia prepares its renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine. But officials and diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the news media, said there was a growing sense that the measure would be taken even in the absence of more revelations like the atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/04/14/world/ukraine-russia-war-news/europe-starts-drafting-a-ban-on-russian-oil-imports
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DE alone can make a big dent ... add NL, PL, IT and FI and that represents a huge chunk.
(above from here - https://fortune.com/2022/04/07/russia-ukraine-oil-gas-sales-deals-ruble-rebound-china-india/)
And both India and China actually have more coal mining than Russia (and even the U.S., Australia, and "nearby" Indonesia do as well).
And if the U.S. had a way to get more LNG there, we are the largest producers of that -
(the above 2 depictions are from here - https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2019/07/14/ten-countries-that-dominate-fossil-fuel-production/?sh=34d8072f5b13)
