EU Issues Guidance on Temporarily Storing Russian Oil, Petroleum

The European Commission issued updated guidance last week to clarify the exemptions for the temporary storage of Russian crude oil and petroleum products in EU free trade zones.

The commission said temporarily storing Russian oil and petroleum isn’t allowed unless:

• the crude oil falls under combined nomenclature code 2709 00 and is delivered by pipeline from Russia to an EU member state;
• the supply of crude oil by pipeline from Russia to a landlocked member state is “interrupted for reasons outside the control of that Member State.” The oil may be “placed in temporary storage or under free zone procedure” until “the supply by pipeline is resumed”;
• the crude oil or petroleum products are certain products originating in a third country and are “only being loaded in, departing from or transiting through Russia, provided that both the origin and the owner of those goods are non-Russian.”