OREANDA-NEWS  The 11th package of European sanctions against Russia will include a ban on oil supplies via the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline, RIA Novosti writes with reference to the Polish ambassador to the EU Andrzej Sados.

The southern branch is the only one that currently transports Russian—made raw materials to Europe. Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic receive oil via this route. Kazakh oil is supplied to the region via the northern branch of Druzhba.

Earlier, European sanctions did not affect pipeline imports of Russian oil. On December 5, the EU banned sea shipments of crude oil from Russia, and on February 5, imports of petroleum products fell under similar restrictions. It is allowed to purchase Russian oil supplied through the pipeline until the EU Council decides to impose a corresponding ban.

Eurostat reported that supplies to the region of oil and petroleum products of Russian origin in March collapsed to 1.4 million tons. The monthly volume of purchases was 90 percent less than the average from 2019 to 2022 (15.2 million tons).

In June, it turned out that the import of Russian oil began to decline and one of its main consumers — China. In the period from June 1 to June 19, deliveries decreased by more than two times compared to May figures. One of the oil traders pointed out that the reason for the drop in demand was discounts on Iranian oil — independent Chinese refineries, the so-called samovars, switched to it.