European countries began to sharply reduce the share of Russian oil in their consumption structure. At the end of September, Russia's share in the European oil market fell by almost a third, from 34% to 21%. This is reported by Bloomberg, citing data from the analytical company Vortexa.
Moreover, Europe increased the volume of oil purchases to the maximum since the pandemic 2020, or up to 8.46 million barrels per day. At the same time, Russia still remains the main supplier of oil to Europe, Vortexa notes, although the positions of the countries of North America, West Africa and the Middle East are already comparable to the Russian market share. The agency notes that the structure of oil supplies to Europe has become as diversified as possible for the first time in a long time.
Imports from Russia totaled 1.78 million barrels in September, up slightly from 1.69 million barrels in August, when Russian supplies were at a multi-year low — less Russian oil was last delivered to the European market in early 2016. But the non-Russian share of oil imports in September, on the contrary, showed a maximum since 2016. African countries now account for 37% of imports to Europe, and Libya has become the leader in the increase in supplies, which increased its supplies to a maximum since the beginning of 2022.
The EU oil embargo will come into force on December 5, 2022, later, from February 2023, the import ban will be extended to petroleum products. Moreover, the European Union is ready to join the idea of the "Big Seven" to set a ceiling on oil prices. The Russian side has previously warned that it does not intend to supply oil to countries that will join the price ceiling for Russian oil. On Wednesday, October 12, this was again stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Western countries are hoping to hit Moscow's revenues with oil restrictions to reduce the ability of the Russian budget to continue to finance the war.