Two European Union diplomats earlier said the bloc is leaning towards a ban on Russian oil imports by the end of the year as part of a sixth round of sanctions against Russia following its invasion of the EU. ‘Ukraine. EU energy ministers will discuss the proposed oil ban in Brussels later on Monday.
“We have managed to reach a situation in which Germany is able to withstand an oil embargo,” Habeck told a press conference. “That means it won’t be without consequences.”
Last month, Germany reduced the share of Russian oil to 25% of its total imports, down from 35% before the invasion.
Habeck said the main challenge for Germany was to find alternative supplies of oil to a refinery located in Schwedt and operated by the Russian state company Rosneft, which supplies parts of eastern Germany as well as the metropolitan area. from Berlin.
These regions could face supply shortages in the event of an EU embargo if Germany fails to secure alternative oil imports by the end of the year, Habeck said.
“We still don’t have a solution for the Schwedt refinery,” said Habeck. “We cannot guarantee that the supply will be continuous. There will certainly be price increases and outages. But that does not mean that we will slide into an oil crisis.”
An adviser to Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the Financial Times in remarks published on Sunday that Germany supports the EU’s planned embargo on Russian oil, but wants a few more months to find alternatives. .
Joerg Kukies told the newspaper that the aim was to ensure that Schwedt was supplied with non-Russian oil brought in by Rostock tankers on the Baltic Sea.
To enable this, the port of Rostock should be deepened and work carried out on the pipeline connecting it to Schwedt, he said.