Congratulations to the EU - sanctions on the most fungible oil

Yes, yes, we know, something must be done and something must be seen to be done. It’s just that deliberately crafting sanctions so as to only impact the most fungible part of the supply is more than a little odd. Ineffective even - even if it does mean that something is being seen to be done:

EU bans majority of Russian oil imports

Huzzah, we are saved - or Europe is and can hold its head up among the community of nations again. Except for the little details of course:

Since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24 the EU’s 27 member states have paid Russia a total of €56.5 billion for energy, providing vital revenue for Putin’s war machine. The lion’s share, almost €30 billion, is accounted for by crude oil supplies.

To cut off the cash to Russia, the EU had planned to ban all oil imports by the end of this year but the talks have stalled over the impact of shutting off pipeline oil to landlocked countries and fears of soaring crude prices.

The compromise plan, agreed at a dinner last night, will exempt imports delivered by pipeline.

The row pivots on the Soviet-era Druzhba, or “friendship”, pipeline which brings oil from Siberia to eastern Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and the Czech Republic.

Ah. Ship bourne oil can be moved anywhere in the world - adaptable things, ships. So, what will happen is that the EU will get its oil notfromRussia. The Russian oil will now flow to whoever would originally have bought the notfromRussia oil but now can’t have it because the EU does.

The end effect here - as it always will be with something as fungible as oil - is not very much. Russia will make around and about the same income from oil exports, the world will consume around and about the same amount of Russian oil, it’ll just be a few tanker crews away from home for longer.

Of course, the oil coming by pipeline is not fungible in anything like the same sense. So restricting pipeline access to the EU market really would reduce Russian oil revenues (and produce the odd problem within the EU too). Which is what wasn’t done.

So, the sanctions are on the most fungible, “redirectable”, part of the oil flow and nothing is to be done about the part that might have had a significant effect. But something was seen to be done and that’s the important part of politics, isn’t it.