income from Russian oil exports plunged 42 percent in February as Western powers tightened sanctions against the country after the ukrainian warthe International Energy Agency said on Wednesday.
The country earned $11.6 billion from its oil exports last month after the European Union imposed a ban on Russian oil products along with a price cap agreed with the Group of Seven and Australia.
This was down from $14.3 billion in January and a 42 percent drop from $20 billion in February of last year.
Russia, however, was still sending “roughly the same” amount of oil to world markets, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises wealthy nations.
“This indicates that the sanctions regime of the G7 it has been effective in not restricting the global supply of crude oil and products, while restricting Russia’s ability to generate export earnings,” the IEA said.
Russia’s oil exports fell by 500,000 barrels a day (bpd) to 7.5 million bpd in February, with shipments to the EU.
“Recent tanker tracking data suggests that Moscow has succeeded in diverting most of the barrels previously destined for the EU and US to new points of sale in Asia, Africa and the Middle Eastthe IEA said.
“Although it has been relatively successful in maintaining volumes, Russia’s oil revenues have taken a hit.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations has recognized that the clauses of the agreement for the grain export from Ukraine through the Black Sea It contemplated an extension of 120 days, instead of the 60 that Russia has accepted, at the same time that it has assured that it “does everything possible” to guarantee that the pact remains standing.
“In the framework of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the agreement provides for a 120-day renewal, but in the current circumstances the Secretary General (of the UN, Antonio Guterres) and his team are focused, in close contact with all the parties, on doing everything possible to guarantee the continuity of the initiative”, said the spokesman for the General Secretariat of the organization, Stephane Dujarric.
Thus, it has stated that “on the parallel memorandum of understanding focused on the export of Russian food and fertilizers, Rebecca GrynspanSecretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and her team, as well as the (UN) Secretary General himself, have spared no effort in facilitating this trade.”
Dujarric has highlighted that “significant progress” has been achieved, although he has said that “it is true that some obstacles continue to exist, mainly around payment systems”. “Our efforts to overcome these obstacles will continue unceasingly,” he stressed in a statement.
“The agreement on the Grain Initiative in the Black Seatogether with the memorandum of understanding on the export of Russian food and fertilizers, are crucial for global food security, especially in developing countries,” Guterres’s spokesperson stressed.
The Russian government announced on Tuesday a 60-day extension of the agreement for the export of cereals through the Black Sea, although Ukraine has denounced that Moscow’s position “contradicts” the signed document, which contemplates that it should be extended for a period of 120 days.
Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov, stated that the extension of the agreement is “a gesture of goodwill” on the part of Moscow and recalled that “there is a part of the agreement related to Russia that has not yet been completed.” “The pact cannot stand on one leg. In general, the conditions for the extension are relative, but it is a gesture of goodwill from Russia in the hope that, so long after, the well-known conditions and obligations assumed by the parties will be completed, ”he stressed.
(With information from AFP and Europa Press)
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Source-www.infobae.com