Russia’s profits on its oil and gas sales have spiked since it invaded Ukraine, with the country raking in $66 billion despite Western sanctions crippling much of its economy.
Russian exports to the European Union, worth approximately 44 billion euros, roughly doubled in 2022 compared to the same two-month period last year, a study from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air shows.
“So 44 billion euros … represents a doubling from last year,” Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst for the center, told the Associated Press. “The main driver is that market prices for gas rose from around 10 euros per MWh a year ago to above 100.”
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Russian exports to the EU last year totaled about 140 billion euros, approximately 12 billion euros a month, according to the Guardian.
The largest buyer of Russian exports, including oil, gas, and coal, was the European Union, which accounted for 71% of imports.
The top six biggest importers in order were: Germany (9.1 billion euros), Italy (6.9. billion euros), China (6.7 billion euros), Netherlands (5.6 billion euros), Turkey (4.1 billion euros), and France (3.8 billion euros).
Pipeline gas accounted for the largest percentage of imports to Germany and Italy. One-quarter of Russia’s fossil fuel shipments since the invasion arrived at six EU ports in the cities of Rotterdam, Maasvlakte, and Trieste.
European officials pledged to cut Russian gas imports by two-thirds in 2022 and end all imports by 2030 while resisting immediate changes. Emily Haber, the German ambassador to the United States, warned that going “cold turkey” on Russian gas immediately would “cause a massive, instant disruption.”
“The European Union and many Member States have responded to the crisis by announcing new clean energy and energy efficiency targets, policies and measures,” the study’s findings read. “These steps will provide a replacement for Russian fossil fuels over the next few years, but they have essentially no effect on Russia’s fossil fuel export revenue in the short term.”
As European countries devise plans to taper off Russian fuel reliance, several other countries have picked up steam in Russian imports. Russian oil exports to India and Egypt, among other “unusual destinations,” have shown “a clear pick-up from a base of almost zero,” the study said.
India has bought more than twice as much crude oil from Russia in the last two months than it did all of last year, according to an analysis from Reuters. Recent purchase patterns have caught President Joe Biden’s attention, suggesting to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month that buying Russian oil wasn’t in India’s best interests.
On Wednesday, Russian gas giant Gazprom announced it shut off supplies to Poland and Bulgaria “until payments are made” with the Russian ruble, a condition Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced amid Western sanctions on Russian oil and gas in an attempt to stabilize his country’s main source of revenue.
Source: Washingtonexaminer.com
