After the ban on Russian gas, the EU will seek a ban on oil in 2027

The EU should ban the import of Russian oil no later than the end of 2027. The EU Commission will present a proposal on this at the beginning of the new year.

So says EU Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen at a press conference on Wednesday.

The press conference comes after an agreement was reached during the night to Wednesday between the EU countries and the EU Parliament to ban the import of Russian gas in 2027.

– In addition to banning the import of Russian gas, we will also target the remaining import of Russian oil to the EU.

– At the beginning of next year, we will present a proposal for a ban on the import of all Russian oil. We need to do it as quickly as possible. And not later than by the end of 2027, says Dan Jørgensen.

While EU countries such as Hungary have been worried about higher energy prices when saying goodbye to Russian gas, the EU countries will probably find it easier to say a final farewell to Russian oil.

This is because the share of Russian oil makes up a much smaller part of imports to the EU than Russian gas does.

The President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, emphasizes at the press conference that at the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the EU as a whole paid 12 billion euros per month to Russia for fossil energy.

That corresponds to around 89 billion kroner per month.

Or over 1000 billion kroner per year.

That figure has now fallen to under two billion euros per month.

This is because the EU countries at this point in time – before the ban on the import of Russian gas – have managed to reduce the share of Russian gas in total imports from 45 percent at the start of the war in Ukraine to 13 percent today.

The share of Russian oil has, according to von der Leyen, been reduced from 26 percent to two percent today. Thus, it will not take much before the EU can definitively shut off the Russian oil taps.