Austria suspends oil imports from Russia

Austria’s energy giant OMV has announced that it has suspended all oil imports from Russia on the eve of a possible EU oil embargo.

“Oil purchases from Russia have always been very low … we are replacing them with other market oils,” a company spokesman said.

The company announced in early March that it was reconsidering its involvement in the construction of the Stream 2 rolling pipeline. OMV also stopped investing in Russia.

Unlike Germany, Austria is expected to easily ease possible EU sanctions against Russian oil supplies. Russia supplied 7.8 percent, or 596,000 tons, of Austrian oil last year, according to the Austrian Statistics Association.

However, Austria remains heavily dependent on Russian natural gas. Due to its landlocked nature, importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) is impractical for it.

The main sources of crude oil supply are Austria, Kazakhstan with 38.9%, Libya with 22.1% and Iraq with 20.7%.

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