Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday, that Canada will ban imports of Russian crude oil. Trudeau also said that Canada will supply anti-tank weapons and upgraded ammunition to Ukraine to support its fight against a Russian invasion.
“Canada will continue to deliver support for Ukraine’s heroic defense against the Russian military,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa. “We are announcing our intention to ban all imports of crude oil from Russia, an industry that has benefited President Putin and his oligarchs greatly.”
Trudeau said oil revenues have helped to prop up President Vladimir Putin and Russian oligarchs. He noted that Western sanctions against Russia have targeted its banks, but have so far left oil and gas imports alone.
However, unlike Europe, Canada is not heavily reliant on Russia’s oil exports. “While Canada has imported very little amounts in recent years, this measure sends a powerful message,” Trudeau told a news conference, according to The BBC.
Canada is the world’s fourth-largest producer of oil, and imported just C$289 million (£170m) worth of energy products in 2021, according to Statistics Canada.
Europe, however, is far more reliant on Russia’s supplies. A quarter of the European Union’s petroleum oil imports come from Russia, along with about 40 percent of the EU’s natural gas imports.
The Russian oil ban applies only to crude oil for now, but the government is looking at oil derivative products next, a government source said.
In 2021, shipments included naphtha and diesel to Valero’s Quebec refinery and deliveries of diesel and gasoline to a refinery in Newfoundland & Labrador, now owned by Cresta Fund Management, said Jim Mitchell, head of Americas Oil Analysts at Refinitiv.
Of the 7.86 million barrels per day the U.S. imported in 2020, the majority came from its North American neighbors: Canada, with 4.13 million barrels (52.5%), and Mexico, with 750,000 (9.6%). But imports coming from outside North America are significant, according to USNews.
Russia, with 540,000 barrels a day (6.6 percent), was the top non-continental contributor. Roughly 11% of the imports came collectively from OPEC countries, including 520,000 from Saudi Arabia.
“We are providing even more lethal aid to Ukraine, and we’ll be sending 100 Carl Gustaf anti-tank weapon systems and 2,000 rockets, which we will be working to deliver as quickly as possible,” Defence Minister Anita Anand said.
