Russia is posting record revenues despite calls to stop buying raw materials from the country over the war in Ukraine.
In the first 100 days of the war in Ukraine, Russia earned 93 billion euros from the export of fossil fuels. The bulk of Russian oil and gas exports went to the European Union. This is reported by the independent Finnish research centre for Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
According to CREA’s research, the EU accounted for 61 percent of Russia’s fossil fuel exports, worth around €57 billion, during the period. At the country level, China was the largest importer with 12.6 billion euros, followed by Germany with 12.1 billion euros and Italy with 7.8 billion euros.
Crude oil is Russia’s largest source of income at EUR 46 billion, followed by pipeline gas, oil products, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal. Ukraine is urging Western countries to cut all trade with Russia in hopes of cutting off the Kremlin’s financial lifeline.
Earlier this month, the EU agreed to cut most of the Russian oil imports on which the continent is heavily dependent. While the economic bloc aims to cut Russian gas imports by two-thirds this year, an embargo is currently out of the question.
Despite a decline in the volume of Russian fossil fuel exports in May, Moscow achieved record export revenues thanks to global increases in fossil fuel prices. Russia’s average export prices were about 60 percent higher than last year, according to CREA. Some countries are also buying more fuels from Russia, including China, India, the United Arab Emirates and France, the report said.
“As the EU considers tougher sanctions against Russia, France has increased imports to become the world’s largest buyer of LNG,” said CREA analyst Lauri Myllyvirta, saying the country is consciously using Russian energy in the aftermath of the war… He calls for an embargo on all Russian fossil fuels.