The EU has proudly announced that it will be officially shooting itself in the foot in December, when most imports of Russian crude oil will be banned, and that it will then again shoot itself in the other foot in February, when all oil products will similarly be prohibited. This timing, of course, places the cuts at the height of the winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
According to the International Energy Agency, the cuts will amount to some 2 million barrels of Russian oil a day. Russia has already made provisions to place about half that amount with other buyers—including Brazil, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Pakistan, South Africa, and a number of Middle Eastern countries—Bloomberg reported, citing analytics company Kpler. Russia is offering discounts in the range of 30% to many of these buyers.
