10,000 jobs at risk as Italy's refinery to be hit by embargo on Russian oil
Max Civili
Press TV, Rome
Earlier this month, Brussels approved the eighth round of sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine in an attempt to deprive Moscow of billions of euros in revenues from selling products in the European Union.
In a previous round of sanctions, the sixth, Brussels had approved an embargo on Russian seaborne oil that will come into force on December the fifth. This punitive measure will severely affect the ISAB refinery, located on Sicily island in the south of Italy.
The refinery, owned by the Russian multinational energy corporation Lukoil, used to buy about 40% of its feedstock from Moscow. Due to the embargo, the plant could shut down in a few weeks, leaving thousands of people jobless.
Although Lukoil was not singled out by EU sanctions, the ISAB plant, which accounts for around 20 percent of Italian refining capacity, has been forced to rely solely on Russian oil since international banks are no longer providing the refinery with credit to buy oil from alternative suppliers.
A last shipment of Russian oil is expected to reach the ISAB refinery by December 5. The Italian government has a bit over a month to find a solution to the issue.
There seems to be two only ways to avert the closure of the ISAB plant: either the refinery gets nationalised, and the Italian government is reportedly mulling over this option, or it is sold to non-Russian buyers.
Some media have reported that US private equity fund Crossbridge Energy Partners is among parties interested in buying the refinery. Actually, there is also a third option that could work for ISAB: continue the same way as today. But that would imply a normalization of ties between the EU and Russia, an option that seems nonviable at this stage.
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