In the last ten months of 2022, the Netherlands imported less crude oil from Russia than in the same period in 2021. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) Thursday. Significantly more was imported from other oil countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and the United States. The decrease was prompted by European sanctions against Russia.
According to Statistics Netherlands, the Russian share in Dutch imports of crude oil decreased from 29.3 percent in 2021 to 14.2 percent in 2022. The total value of oil imported from Russia fell from 7.2 billion euros to 6.2 billion euros euros. Other countries benefited from this. Crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia tripled. More crude oil was also imported from Nigeria, more than double. However, Russia was still the most important import partner for crude oil in both 2021 and 2022.
With an import value of more than 43 billion euros, the Netherlands imported almost 78 percent more oil in the period from March to December 2022 than in the same period in 2021. Higher prices on the oil market mainly play a role here.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine in February last year, the price of Russian crude oil has risen less than that of other major oil-exporting countries. Europe and the US fought a fierce economic war with Russia this year, with financial sanctions and embargoes on imports and exports. An EU ban on importing Russian oil, and on insuring Russian oil shipments by sea, only came into effect last December.
The Dutch export value of goods to Russia, the CBS calculated, fell by 38 percent in 2022. This development is the result of the sanctions against Russia. In particular, fewer semiconductors and chips, means of transport, flowers and plants, machines and equipment were exported to Russia. It is striking that the import value of goods from Russia, worth around 21 billion euros, grew by 13 percent.
Read also: How Russians manage to circumvent sanctions: the smartphone now comes from China