Kremlin says can re-route oil exports to minimize losses from EU embargo

Record ID: 1675137

  • Title: Kremlin says can re-route oil exports to minimize losses from EU embargo
  • Date: 1st June 2022
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (MAY 30, 2022) (REUTERS) KREMLIN
  • Embargoed: 15th June 2022 12:49
  • Keywords: Kremlin Russia Ukraine briefing grain oil
  • Location: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION / MOSCOW, RUSSIA
  • City: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION / MOSCOW, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Military Conflicts
  • Reuters ID: LVA003205001062022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The Kremlin warned on Wednesday (June 1) that the European Union's sanctions on Russian oil would hit the global energy market, but said Moscow could re-route exports to limit its own losses.
    EU leaders this week agreed an embargo on Russian crude oil imports that aims to halt 90% of Russia's oil sales into the 27-member bloc by year-end.
    "These sanctions will have a negative impact on the entire continent - for Europeans, for us, and for the entire global energy market," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
    More than a quarter of Europe's oil came from Russia in 2021, with the EU accounting for almost half of Russia's overall crude and petroleum product exports in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
    Energy prices have surged to multi-year highs since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, pushing inflation to its highest levels in a generation and sparking fears of a cost of living crisis in Europe and the United States.
    Moscow has already started re-routing supplies away from Europe following the imposition of sanctions, the Kremlin said.
    "This is a targeted, systemic action that will allow us the minimize the negative consequences," Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.
    India is among those who have cashed in on the disruption to Russian supplies, purchasing record amounts of Russian oil at a steep discount to market rates for benchmark crude.
    The Kremlin also said on Wednesday the world could be on the verge of a major food crisis, blaming "illegal restrictions" imposed on Russia by Western countries and decisions by Ukrainian authorities.
    More than three months since invading Ukraine, Russia has seized large parts of its neighbor's coast and is blockading its ports, but is trying to pin the blame for the lack of grain shipments on Western sanctions and on Kyiv itself.
    "We are potentially on the verge of a very deep food crisis linked to the introduction of illegal restrictions against us and the actions of Ukrainian authorities who have mined the path to the Black Sea and are not shipping grain from there despite Russia not impeding in any way," Peskov told reporters on a conference call.
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