The European Union has previously approved an embargo on Russian oil supplies. The ban will not apply to fuel supplied by pipelines.
Source: Draft EU summit conclusions
Participants in the European Council summit agreed that this package of sanctions against Russia should apply to crude oil. In this case, the oil supplied by the pipeline will be a “temporary exception”.
“European Council agrees that the sixth package of sanctions against Russia will over crude oil, as well as petroleum products, delivered from Russia into the Member States, with a temporary exception for crude oil delivered by pipeline.”
A compromise on pipelines will help landlocked countries, such as Hungary, which has blocked an agreement on banning imports of Russian oil and refined fuels on the basis that such actions will deal a serious blow to its economy.
EU leaders have been unable to agree on all the details of the embargo. Therefore, they will leave the final agreement on the package of sanctions against Russia for later. At the same time, the draft statement says that the issue of a full embargo on Russian oil supplies should be resolved as soon as possible.
See also: The EU is working on a gas deal with Egypt and Israel to reduce dependence on Russia
