While in the European Union The need to stop oil imports from Russia is being discussedIn recent months, Italy has moved in the opposite direction to most European countries. According to the data collected Financial TimesItaly imported 450,000 barrels of crude oil from Russia this month: four times what it imported in February, the highest level since 2013. At this rate, Italy will soon become Russia’s largest European oil importer by sea. Crossing the Netherlands.

The increase in imports was due to the need to keep the Isab refinery in Lukoil, Priolo, Syrocuse province, owned by Russian oil company Lukoil open. Ukraine should use only Russian crude oil for its business.

Prilo Isab is the largest refinery in Italy. Currently, according to the data Informed Beans Only 24 ores, Which processes 13.6 percent of the crude oil that arrives in Italy (an average of 10.6 million tons per year), and then exports the finished product worldwide. The ISAB plant was built in 1972 and is owned by the Italian energy company ERG, which has been selling it to Litasco, a Swiss company controlled by Russian Lukoil since 2008.

Under normal circumstances, the Isab plant buys crude for refining from manufacturers around the world: about 30 percent comes from the Russian parent company Lukoil, which carries out extensive mining operations, and the rest from other suppliers. Western sanctions against Russia over the occupation of Ukraine changed things: although Lukoil was not directly licensed, all major world banks stopped giving Isab the credit and guarantee needed to buy crude oil from abroad. To engage in permissible financial activities.

In this way, ISAB found that crude oil could not be purchased, and began to import 100 percent of its crude directly from Lukoil, thus dramatically increasing Italian imports of Russian crude: currently, two-thirds of oil. Written by Russian Isab arriving in Italy Financial Times. According to company representatives, the plant will be forced to shut down if there is no Russian oil.

In this way, Italy is in a very uncomfortable position. The increase in Russian oil imports is in stark contrast to European goals, shared by the Italian government, which calls for an end to energy imports from Russia in response to the Ukrainian occupation. But without doing enough for Isab, doing so would weaken a large part of the local economy: Isab has thousands of employees and a large turnover, and its exports make up a significant portion of the nearby port of Augusta.

It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post. Among the possible solutions, there may even be nationalization, a theory currently rejected by the government, but the newspapers cite too much: the state will take control of the plant for a few years and then sell it to a new buyer.

However, the problem of Russian refineries in Europe does not only affect Sicily. According to again Financial Times Crude oil imports from Russia have also increased at Trieste port: this time they are not used to supply power to local refineries, but two refineries of the Russian state-owned company Rosneft, based in Germany, are connected to the port of Trieste by oil pipelines. .