According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Russia’s revenue from oil and gas exports fell nearly 40 percent in January as price caps and Western sanctions cut profits from Moscow’s most lucrative exports.

Russia’s oil and gas export revenue was $18.5 billion in January, down 38% from $30 billion in January 2022, a month before its invasion of Ukraine, according to IEA data shared with Reuters. IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said Western measures against Russia’s energy exports had achieved their goals, stabilizing oil markets and limiting Moscow’s revenue from oil and gas exports.

“We expect this decline in oil and gas revenues to be sharper in the coming months. And even steeper in the medium term due to the lack of access to technology and investment,” Birol told Reuters.

International sanctions imposed on Russia in response to the war in Ukraine, including a $60 per barrel cap on crude oil imposed by the most developed countries of the Group of Seven (G7), have resulted in the Russian brand Ural being sold at a deep discount compared to with Brent. . Since December, 27 EU countries have also banned the export of Russian oil by sea and imposed sanctions on the export to Russia of technologies necessary for oil refining. The US and UK have also imposed sanctions on Russian oil exports.

Moscow has used oil and gas revenues — about 11.6 trillion rubles ($154.68 billion) last year — to cover its budget spending and has been forced to start selling off its international foreign exchange invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Europe is trying to move away from Russian natural gas after Moscow cut gas supplies to the EU. after his military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This sent European gas prices skyrocketing to record highs, and countries began to look for alternative supplies and energy conservation measures.

Birol said EU countries have made progress on energy security in the past year, including rapidly expanding the use of renewables and heat pumps to reduce the need for fossil fuels.

But risks remain, he said, and countries need to continue efforts to save energy and secure supplies. Europe’s ability to provide itself with enough natural gas could be threatened by growing demand from China or if Russia cuts the gas it still supplies to Europe. “We have every reason to work as hard as we did last year,” said Birol.