By the end of this week, the European Union may fully agree to a ban on the import of Russian oil, even though this will lead to a further increase in oil prices.

According to Bloomberg: EU members are discussing an approach to phase-out, in which Russian oil imports will gradually decrease by the end of the year.

However, later, according to the Financial Times, the timing of the phase-out of Russian imports was shifted by several months.

According to the FT report, Germany, one of the largest importers of Russian oil, initially asked for more time to prepare for the phase-out of Russian oil, at least until the end of the year. Now the German government seems emboldened and is ready to give up in a few months.

On Sunday, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said that full independence from Russia is already possible by the end of summer.

Early on Monday morning, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that once such a ban was introduced, it could last for years.

Despite the many-voiced agreement on the oil embargo, it may still fail, since some EU members, in particular Hungary, opposed sanctions measures against energy carriers from Russia from the very beginning.

Decisions on sanctions must be approved unanimously by all EU members.

The purpose of the sanctions is to reduce Russia's revenues from oil and gas, which replenish the Kremlin's military coffers but not to cause turmoil in international oil markets. And now, it seems that unrest cannot be avoided, given the volume of Russian energy exports. Russia is the largest exporter of crude oil and petroleum products, as well as the largest exporter of natural gas.

In addition to the Russian fossil fuel industry, the next round of sanctions will affect more banks, as well as access to consulting and cloud services.