You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet

Europe’s import patterns are showing dramatic changes

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, European governments, major oil companies, refiners and traders immediately responded with sanctions.  The EU and UK in particular reduced imports of Russian crude oil and refined products.  Initially, this “self-sanctioning” was mostly done on a voluntary basis, and it changed the trading patterns around Europe quite dramatically.  Not only did European oil importers look for different sources of crude oil, they also shifted to different vessel types to move the commodity.

In this Weekly Opinion, we will discuss these changes in trade flows and vessels preferences in more detail.  We will also look ahead toward the end of the year, when a full EU ban on seaborne Russian crude oil imports will go into effect.

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