BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany hopes to find new sources of oil supply within days so that it can do without imports from Russia, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Tuesday, adding that his country could then approve a European embargo on Russian oil.
Pressed by several of its partners in the European Union, including France, to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels imported from Russia, Germany has explained until now that it does not plan to be able to do without Russian oil before the end of this year. It had therefore rejected the idea of an immediate embargo on EU-wide imports.
“Today I can say that an (oil) embargo has become manageable for Germany,” Robert Habeck told reporters during a visit to Poland for talks on energy security.
Before the outbreak of war in Ukraine at the end of February, Russian oil accounted for around a third of German consumption and a month ago Robert Habeck said that Berlin had reduced this proportion to 25%.
On Tuesday, he said that Russian oil only represented 12% of his country’s imports and that it only supplied one refinery, that of PCK in Schwedt, near Berlin, operated by the Russian public group. Rosneft.
“Schwedt’s economic model is based on the purchase of Russian oil. This is a contentious issue, we need to find an alternative to Schwedt and we will work on it in the days to come,” said the minister.
(Report Markus Wacket and Marek Strzelecki, French version Marc Angrand, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot)
click here for restrictions
©2022 Reuters
