These new sanctions are blocked by Hungary, a landlocked country without access to the sea, which depends on the oil sent from Russia by the Druzhba pipeline which supplies it with 65% of its consumption.
Budapest considered the proposal for a two-year derogation offered to it insufficient, and demanded at least four years and nearly 800 million euros in European funding to adapt its refineries.
The solution examined in Brussels on Sunday would consist in excluding Druzhba from the oil embargo to limit the sanctions to the sole supply of oil by boat, according to these European sources.
Two-thirds of Russian oil supplies to the EU are transported by tankers and one-third by the Druzhba pipeline.
This proposal, at the initiative of the French presidency of the EU and of the European Council (body representing the Member States), would make it possible to move forward with the 6th set of European sanctions under discussion since the beginning of May.
This embargo on deliveries by sea would concern the cessation of purchases of oil within six months and of oil products by the end of the year.
The package also includes new sanctions against Russian banks and an extension of the EU blacklist to new Russian personalities.
Another option considered would be to postpone the adoption of the entire sanctions package until a solution for Hungary's oil supply is found, according to the same sources.
The search for a compromise has accelerated in recent days so that the lack of agreement on sanctions does not weigh on the summit of heads of state and government which will meet in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to speak by videoconference at the start of this European Council.
The solution presented to the ambassadors of EU member countries on Sunday will still have to be approved by their leaders, with the hope of resolving the issue by the start of the summit on Monday afternoon.
© 2022 AFP