MILAN- Following the European Union’s moves to limit the amount of Russian oil imports into Europe by almost 90%, Italy has become the sole nation in Europe to increase their rates.
The embargo placed on Russia was originally created as a means of effectively punishing the nation for the war in Ukraine. However, it has also had unintended consequences, which have namely affected the European nation of Italy quite negatively.
One of the country’s largest oil refineries, a Lukoil plant found in Sicily, has been poorly affected by the embargo. In a region that is already riddled with economic problems, this would be too large of a blow to handle.
Lukoil is a Russian-owned oil company.
Throughout May Italy imported over 400,000 barrels of oil from Russia per day. These were almost four times what they used to import prior to the invasion. Of the 400,000 daily barrels, ISAB Italy received 220,000 of them. In fact, as a result of the European embargos on Russia, ISAB has went from processing only 15% Russian oil to 100%, and Italy has become Europe’s largest importer of the product.
Sicily’s Lukoil plant employs over 3,500 people over its three production sites. It processes about 20% of Italy’s total crude imports. If a solution is not found to Italy’s oil problem before more sanctions are put into action, it could risk closure, which could very well devastate Sicily’s economy.
The state has already been negatively impacted by the nation’s slow switch to alternative energy sources, making this situation more urgent than usual.
“It will be a disaster. We hope they find a solution,” said Marco Candelargiu, an employee at the plant. “You cannot destroy a province. The choice was made a long time ago to base the economy prevalently on the refinery.”
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