Russian treasury hit by lower oil and gas sales | Economy

Russia saw oil and gas revenues nearly halve last month from a year earlier. This is probably because almost all EU countries have stopped importing oil from Russia for several months. There is also hardly any gas flowing from Russia to Europe.

Russian income from oil and gas fell by 46 percent in February to about 6.5 billion euros, the Russian Ministry of Finance reports.

Moscow now has a higher tax on gas, but that was not enough to make up for lower export revenues. Energy income normally accounts for a third of the Russian treasury.

Because there is less interest in Russian oil, the country has to give significant discounts. For example, Ural oil is now sold for half the price of a year ago. Moscow is looking for ways to raise the price in order to have more money for the war in Ukraine.

EU countries have been banned from importing crude oil from Russia since December 5. Since last month, this also applies to oil products from Russia, such as diesel and kerosene. There is also hardly any gas flowing to Europe, although this is mainly because Moscow turned off the gas tap itself last year. In addition, last September there were several explosions at two major gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

Source