- Russia has exported about 450,000 barrels per day of crude to Italy this month, the most since 2013.
- That's more than four times the amount exported in February, the tail end of which saw the start of Russia's war on Ukraine.
- A refinery has been forced to buy more crude from Russia because a lack of bank lending cut off other sources.
Russian oil exports to Italy are four times higher in May compared to February as Western sanctions on Moscow produce unintended consequences.
Italy imported about 450,000 barrels per day this month, the most since 2013, according to data from commodity tracking firm Kpler cited by the Financial Times. The country is close to overtaking the Netherlands as the largest imported of sea-shipped Russian crude in the European Union.
The uptick in consumption comes as the EU is pushing for a total ban on Russian oil by the end of the year. But member states have yet to reach an agreement, and while Western sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine have targeted broad segment of its economy and financial sector, the energy industry has largely avoided direct bans.
Still, many Western companies are cutting off business ties with Russia's energy sector amid the overall sanctions. This so-called self-sanctioning contributed to Italy's spike in Russian oil imports.
The majority of the crude has been delivered via Augusta, a major landing in Sicily that is also located near a Russian-owned refinery, the Financial Times reported.
Before the Ukraine war, Russian oil accounted for 30% of the crude mixed at the refinery, which is owned by Moscow-based Lukoil. But that share has risen to 100% as Italian banks stopped supplying credit to Lukoil — even though it's not sanctioned — forcing it to rely on oil from its parent company.
Alessandro Tripoli, the secretary general of the FEMCA SICL union in Sicily, told the FT that the current situation is "paradoxical" because "the EU wanted to penalize Russian energy imports but here it's actually been incentivised by the sanctions."