Russia’s revenues from oil and gas exports fell nearly 40% in January as price caps and Western sanctions cut into Moscow’s revenues, according to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Tuesday, cited by Reuters and Agerpres.

Russia collected $18.5 billion from oil and gas exports in the first month of this year, down 38% from the $30 billion Russia collected in January 2022, a month before the start of the year, according to IEA data seen by Reuters. invasion of the USA. Ukraine.

IEA Director Fatih Birol claims that Western measures aimed at Russian energy exports have achieved their goals of stabilizing oil markets and reducing Russia’s income from oil and gas exports.

“Our estimates show that the decline in oil and gas revenues will be more extensive in the coming months. And even steeper in the medium term due to the lack of access to technology and investment,” Fatih Birol told Reuters.

The West limited the prices of Russian oil

International sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, including a $60 per barrel crude oil price ceiling imposed by the Group of Major Industrial Powers, have created a situation where Russian Urals crude is sold at a significant discount to Brent. crude oil

In addition, from December 2022, the countries of the European Union banned the import of Russian oil by sea and imposed sanctions on the export to Russia of technologies necessary for oil processing.

The USA, Great Britain and Canada also imposed restrictions on the import of oil from Russia.

Moscow relies on revenues from oil and gas exports, which totaled 11.6 trillion rubles ($154.68 billion) last year, to finance budget spending. The decline in revenues from oil and gas exports has forced Moscow to begin spending part of its foreign reserves to cover the budget deficit, which has grown due to the costs associated with the invasion of Ukraine.

Europe continues to try to get rid of energy dependence on Russia

At the same time, Europe is rushing to reduce its dependence on Russian natural gas after Moscow significantly reduced pipeline gas supplies to the EU. This led to record values ​​of gas quotations on the EU market and forced European states to look for alternative suppliers and initiate energy-saving measures.

Fatih Birol assessed the progress of EU countries in the past year in improving energy security, including the rapid expansion of the use of renewable energy sources and heat pumps to reduce the need for fossil fuels.

However, the IEA director emphasizes that risks still exist and countries must continue their efforts to save energy and secure supply. Europe’s ability to supply enough natural gas could be called into question by increased demand from China or if Russia cuts gas supplies to Europe entirely.

“We have every reason to work with the same intensity as last year,” Birol said.

The International Energy Agency is the main consultative body on energy issues of the 29 most developed countries. The agency was created in response to the first oil shock of 1973-1974 to coordinate the release of oil from reserves.

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PHOTO: article: DreamsTime / Dmytro Melnikov.