Finland in the first quarter of 2021 reduced by a quarter the volume of purchases of Russian Urals oil as part of the transition to green energy and continued to reduce purchases in April. This is reported by Reuters with reference to data from the analytical company Refinitiv Eikon.
In particular, in the period from January to March 2021, imports of Russian Urals oil to Finland decreased by a quarter, to 2.1 million tons. In April, they also fell to 0.4 million tons, compared to 1.1 million tons in the past. year.
Finland began to reduce purchases of Russian oil back in 2020. Then its supplies decreased by 16% compared to 2019. Experts note that further reductions in purchases by the country may negatively affect the price of Russian Urals oil.
At the beginning of the year, the Finnish power grid operator Fingrid also allowed a refusal to import Russian electricity into the country until 2035. This is also due to Finland’s goal of switching to green energy, becoming, in particular, a coal-neutral country. The country expects to switch to wind generation, abandoning electricity imports altogether.
At the same time, the Inter RAO group (the Russian energy export-import operator) told Vedomosti that, on the contrary, in 2021 it will increase the supply of electricity to Finland, as well as to the Baltic countries. The Russian company estimated the growth of Finland’s share in supplies from Russia from 22 to 27% by the end of this year.
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