In France, there is still Russian oil at the gas pump today. This was recognized by Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the Minister for Energy Transition on franceinfo on Wednesday October 19. “There is no embargo on Russian oil until December 31 for unrefined products, and two months later for refined products”she said before adding that France was already before the war in Ukraine “one of the countries least dependent on Russian oil”with “roughly 20% supply where the rest of Europe was beyond 40%.” The Minister also stated that the French group “Total has already withdrawn from Russian oil since last March.”
Indeed, the European embargo has not yet started, but the Minister makes a small inaccuracy: it will be from December 5, 2022 for crude oil, and not from the 31st. And for refined oil, it will start on February 5 2023. Moreover, even when the embargo takes effect, the European Union will not give up all of its Russian oil. There will certainly be no more imports by boat, but imports by pipelines will not stop.
Hungary, highly dependent on Russian oil, effectively vetoed the deal if the pipelines were included. And that is understandable: two-thirds of its oil comes from the Russian Druzhba pipeline. But for their part, Germany and Poland have made a gesture by deciding to give up using this same pipeline.
If we add together the decision of these two countries and the end of imports by ship, Europe is giving up 90% of its Russian oil, as announced at the time by the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
I welcome the #EUCO agreement tonight on oil sanctions against Russia.
This will effectively cut around 90% of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year.
—Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) May 30, 2022
On France’s low dependence on this oil, the figures are even lower than those put forward by the minister. Last year, only 9% of the crude oil imported by France came from Russia, while Agnès Pannier-Runacher speaks of 20%. But this is still much less than the European average, which was not 40% as the minister says, but 26% crude oil.
Finally, on Total’s disengagement from Russian oil since last spring, the minister is going a little too fast. Admittedly, Total’s objective is to disengage from Russian oil. Moreover, since the end of February, the group no longer signs a new contract in this country, and it no longer renews its old contracts either. But he is not yet totally disengaged from Russia, he plans to be by the end of this year at the latest.
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