More sanctions against Russia should follow quickly and be tougher than before.

A freeze on energy imports is also being discussed, at least in part, in order to transfer less revenue than before to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government.

After the European Commission suggested sanctioning coal imports from Russia, this embargo could soon be extended to oil as well – and leading European politicians are now even talking about stopping gas imports.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday before the European Parliament that the fifth package of sanctions announced on Tuesday would not be the last.

"Now we have to look at oil and the revenue that Russia gets from fossil fuels." EU Council President Charles Michel echoed the same trumpet: "I think

Christian Geinitz

Business correspondent in Berlin

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Jan Hauser

Editor in Business.

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This will pose difficulties for the German energy supply because imports of Russian energy sources are comparatively high in this country.

After all, oil is the only fossil fuel with a legal reserve.

On March 2, Robert Habeck's (Greens) Federal Ministry of Economics released three percent of the reserve, around 435,000 tons.

Stockpiling includes 90 days import, could do as three months without new shipments.

According to a new report from Habeck's house, the German supply could be "secured for more than 200 days with the oil reserve alone" according to FAZ information.

However, this is a purely arithmetical value, it takes into account neither the required oil qualities nor the transport options.

Consequences of an oil embargo

Fortunately, the world markets are very flexible.

Depending on the market situation, "there is a high probability that refineries that are supplied via seaports will find replacements" within the six-and-a-half months mentioned.

But the authors also warn of shortages if the end comes hastily: "An immediate embargo on Russian oil could at least temporarily lead to market distortions and bottlenecks in the supply of oil products in eastern and central Germany." The eastern German refineries in Schwedt and Leuna almost exclusively Russian oil, via the Druzhba pipeline.

The Petroleum Stockpiling Association (EBV), which puts the reserves at around 24 million tons of petroleum and petroleum products, takes care of the reserve for petroleum.

This involves crude oil, petrol, diesel fuel, light heating oil and jet turbine fuel (JET A-1). If the almost 28 million tons of imports from Russia were to be omitted, the reserve would probably last longer than the Habeck calculations and the Russian failure even further ten to eleven months can compensate.

In any case, a Russian oil supply freeze would only take full effect with some delay.