Ireland, Lithuania push EU for Russian oil sanctions ahead of Biden meeting

Ireland and Lithuania called for the EU to impose sanctions on Russia's oil trade at a meeting in Brussels on March 21 ahead of talks with US President Joe Biden later in the week.

The calls came during a meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers, prior to a meeting of EU heads of government and Biden on Thursday to discuss the response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and what EU foreign affairs high representative Josep Borrell called "massive" war crimes by Russia.

The EU has shied away from following US and UK moves to boycott Russian oil, with EU energy sector sanctions focused on areas such as investment and technology sales, although Germany is moving to try and limit its use of Russian gas.

In remarks broadcast as he went into the latest meeting, Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney told journalists: "We would like to see the sanctions that have been agreed so far further intensified and added to.... Looking at the extent of the destruction in Ukraine right now it's very hard to make the case that we shouldn't be moving into the energy sector, particularly oil and coal, in terms of interrupting normal trade in that space. Ireland is very open to that."

Lithuanian counterpart Gabrielius Landsbergis said there should be no let-up in EU efforts on Ukraine. "We cannot get tired of imposing sanctions, we cannot get tired offering assistance and help to Ukraine. It is unavoidable to start talking about the energy sector and we definitely can talk about oil because it is the biggest revenue to Russian budget and also it's quite easily replaceable because of infrastructure and multiple suppliers existing," he said, going on to call for the EU to discuss "red lines" in response to Russia's actions.

Europe is particularly dependent on Russian oil and was importing about 2.7 million b/d in crude and another 1.5 million b/d products, mostly diesel, before the invasion of Ukraine.

Lithuania was the world's second most dependent country on Russian crude imports in November, according to the International Energy Agency, when 173,000 b/d of Russian crude imports accounted for 87% of its total imported crude. Lithuania also imported 12,000 b/d of Russian oil products, according to the IEA, making up 46% of its total product imports.

German rethink

The latest calls to target Russian oil come in sharp contrast to comments from Germany, Europe's biggest oil market and the world's second-biggest importer of Russian oil behind China with more than one-third of its oil imports sourced from the country.

On March 7, Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz pushed back on calls for tougher energy sanctions on Russian saying the supplies are of "essential importance for the provision of public services and the daily lives of our citizens."

German has already been forced to rethink its long-term reliance on Russian energy imports, however, in the wake of the Ukraine conflict.

Germany's economy minister Robert Habeck visited Qatar over the weekend to try to agree long term LNG supplies as a way of limiting his country's dependence on pipeline supplies of gas from Russia.

Biden is due in Brussels on Thursday before heading on to Poland on Friday for discussions on the Ukrainian invasion.

European countries remain heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas, with the Druzhba crude pipeline providing about 1 million b/d to Europe. Lithuania's Mazeikiai refinery is a big buyer of Russian crude delivered by sea on the Baltic coast, with Urals crude accounting for 87% of crude delivered to the facility, which is owned by Poland's PKN Orlen. PKN Orlen has a policy of diversifying its crude sourcing, however, this has been more fully implemented at its Polish refineries rather than Mazeikiai.

Related infographic: How much Russian oil does Europe import?