EU’s Russian Oil Curtain Call: A Crossroads for Climate

The report analyzes the climate implications of the European Union's phaseout of Russian oil imports. It argues that while replacing Russian crude is complex due to refinery specifications, the EU has an opportunity to reduce supply-chain emissions by selecting lower-intensity alternatives and transitioning toward clean energy infrastructure.

• The EU implemented sanctions to achieve a 90 percent reduction in Russian oil imports by the end of 2022. In 2021, Russia provided over 25 percent of EU oil imports, totaling 2.2 million barrels per day (mbd) of crude and 1.2 mbd of refined products.
• Replacing Russian Urals crude is technically challenging because refineries are designed for specific sulfur content and API gravity. While Urals crude is the most produced stream at nearly 10 mbd, it has the highest upstream CO2 intensity among the top 10 most used crudes.
• The climate impact of replacing Russian oil depends on the chosen alternative; for example, switching to North Sea Brent could increase emissions due to high water and gas ratios in mature fields. Conversely, Saudi Arab Light is identified as a potentially good substitute that could lower emissions.
• The EU can reduce its reliance on Russian natural gas by choosing hydrotreated intermediate products, as refinery hydrotreating demand accounts for nearly 10 percent of EU natural gas imports from Russia or 25 percent of 2020 EU liquified natural gas imports.

APA

RMI (2022). EU’s Russian Oil Curtain Call: A Crossroads for Climate. https://rmi.org/resources/eus-russian-oil-curtain-call-a-crossroads-for-climate/

Chicago

RMI. EU’s Russian Oil Curtain Call: A Crossroads for Climate. 2022. https://rmi.org/resources/eus-russian-oil-curtain-call-a-crossroads-for-climate/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=EU’s Russian Oil Curtain Call: A Crossroads for Climate |date=1 July 2022 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/eus-russian-oil-curtain-call-a-crossroads-for-climate/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2022eus, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{EU’s Russian Oil Curtain Call: A Crossroads for Climate}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2022}, month = jul, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/eus-russian-oil-curtain-call-a-crossroads-for-climate/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }