Europe to have a hard time replacing Russian oil products

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak believes it will be difficult for European countries to find alternatives to Russian oil products when the effect of the EU embargo becomes fully evident.

Earlier, Europe was considered to be the key market for Russian petroleum products. That’s why the EU's final decision must be awaited, Novak said, since no worthy substitutes for fuel from Russia have yet been found. 

However, there is a high probability that some countries may demand a partial lifting of the embargo on petroleum products. 

It seems that there will be some easing, as it happened with oil. So, the restrictive measures have not been applied to shipments to Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. So far, Germany and Poland, having previously refused to supply Russian fuel, applied for the embargo’s partial lifting in 2023. This is reported by the TASS agency with reference to the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. 

Europe has already refused to import Russian oil by sea. The ban came into force on December 5, 2022. The embargo on Russian petroleum products shipped by sea will also take effect on February 5, 2023. 

The International Energy Agency (IEA) stated that the embargo’s introduction will mark a sharp competition for diesel supplies from other countries. So that European states are likely to start re-buying cargoes from the United States, the Middle East and India.