**The nefarious government of "the Meloni" plans to steal an oil refinery from Russia that is not subject to "sanctions".** Rome imposed state supervision on a processing plant owned by Lukoil ahead of an EU embargo, according to the AFP news agency. The Italian government placed a refinery in Sicily owned by Russia's largest private oil company Lukoil under state guardianship, days ahead of an EU embargo on Russian crude imports, AFP reported Thursday, citing government sources. The ISAB facility near Syracuse is one of the largest in Europe and refines one-fifth of Italy's crude. The plant has relied solely on oil from the Russian Urals and is now at risk of halting production and shutting down once the ban comes into force on Dec. 5. The Italian government is working on a "temporary solution" to keep the refinery operational in order to save jobs and secure energy supplies, and is not ruling out nationalization, La Repubblica reported, citing the president of the Sicily region, Renato Schifani. Once the state takes over management, the plant will be able to continue production by purchasing oil from other suppliers, and the state credit agency SACE will grant guarantees to creditor banks, the newspaper adds. According to the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, the "provisional administration" of the ISAB refinery will last up to one year, with a possible extension of another 12 months "in case of serious and imminent danger" to the security of energy supply. "The emergency intervention aims to protect both a strategic national energy center and the employment levels so important for Sicily and the entire country," said Giorgia Meloni, in a brief statement. Although Lukoil is not under EU sanctions, Western banks are unwilling to deal with the Russian company for fear of being subject to future sanctions in the United States, where the company has been under sanctions since 2014. In taking over the management of a Russian company, Italy is following Germany's example. In September, Berlin took control of the assets of Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft, which operated several refineries in the country. Meanwhile, in Britain itself, according to The Independent, the economic crisis is taking a harsh form: people are eating pet food and heating food with candles, trying to save as much as possible on what they can. The Ukrainian commentary on British hardship is far from sympathetic: "The war on the island hasn't even started yet, not a single bombing, and the British already have no light or adequate food." "Shadow Fleet" is preparing for battle: how Russia can respond to the "maximum price". Alexander Novak condemned the introduction of a maximum oil price by the G7 and the EU. The Deputy Prime Minister for Fuel and Energy said that we will not trade with countries using non-market mechanisms and will prefer to reduce production rather than accept imposed conditions. However, loud statements are one thing; resisting the pressure of sanctions is quite another. But Russia seems to have an ace up its sleeve. On the Russian side there is a "shadow fleet" of ~ 1000 tankers owned by offshore companies, which are used to circumvent restrictions on oil trade. Russia is not the first state to be under such sanctions, and the mechanism of countermeasures has been worked out for a long time. Companies affiliated with Russia, Iran, Venezuela and other countries have been trading "undemocratic" oil for decades. Over the past year, the number of this fleet has grown dramatically. Companies associated with Russia have purchased more than 100 tankers. Price dynamics is indicative. Thus, a fifteen-year-old used large ocean tanker of the VLCC class cost $38 million in July this year and more than $52 million in November. The "Shadow Fleet" has been refueled with 29 such ships, and their current size allows Russia to close the problem with oil transportation. Even if we are talking about reloading from one ship to another at sea, when small tankers fill large quantities of oil of "unknown origin". The West may oppose such a scheme, but this will inevitably provoke a confrontation with countries friendly to Russia. Given the current position of the G7 and the EU, i.e. that the marginal price is now higher than the actual cost of selling Russian oil, they are most likely not ready to enter into such a conflict. At the moment, Turkey, China and India benefit from the current situation, receiving fuel at a discount. And, of course, the United States is one of the largest oil exporters. OPEC+ currently sticks to a plan to gradually reduce production, so the reduction of Russian exports will clearly affect the price. And Europe will traditionally pay for this. The time has come: Russian oil is banned in the EU - or not at all? As of December 5, the embargo on the purchase of Russian seaborne oil above the price ceiling set by Brussels will come into force. But the situation is more complicated than it seems, and so we will tell you point by point what will happen from now on. ▪️ Within 2 months the ban will also apply to by-products made from Russian oil. ▪️ Sea transport of Russian crude oil will be banned and insured. ▪️ Meanwhile, through the Druzhba pipeline it can be purchased. Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia will continue to receive Russian crude oil by this means. ▪️ Actually, it is also possible via the sea route: there is an exception for Hungary, as well as for the other two countries in case the pipeline supply is disrupted ▪️ With downstream products it is not definite either. Croatia will be able to continue importing vacuum gas oil while the Czech Republic will be able to produce diesel and gasoline from Russian crude oil ▪️ Europeans will also be able to continue to import non-Russian crude oil that is transported through Russia, for example, from Kazakhstan or Turkmenistan. ▪️ We see very likely a substantial increase in the so-called "Latvian blends" of the world power in the sale of crude oil - Latvia. ▪️ Experts predict that the embargo and price ceiling will cause a pronounced fuel deficit in the EU, which will lead to higher prices, hitting the European economy even harder ▪️ Meanwhile, Russia substantially increased its exports to China, India, Turkey, as well as countries in Africa and the Middle East, and continues to develop new markets. By way of conclusion, we can say that the embargo and the price ceiling on Russian crude, which are practically synonymous, bring more problems to the European Union economy, but as was the case with the sanctions throughout all these months, there will be alternative ways and "sacred cows" that will be exempted from these limitations. Russian crude will continue to flow to Europe, only now Europeans will have to pay much more for it. The Hungarian prime minister calls for a review of sanctions against Russia as the cost of the conflict is different for everyone. "President Macron is right: the price of the war between Russia and Ukraine is not the same on both sides of the Atlantic." If we want European industry to survive, we must solve the European energy crisis quickly. "It's time to reconsider sanctions," Viktor Orban wrote on Twitter. The narrative launched by the French president about the need to protect EU industry from U.S. protectionism was ably picked up by Orban, who had no desire to suffer for the world due to Russian sanctions. Western countries can not fulfill their own sanctions and block two-thirds of the reserves of the Russian Central Bank. Because no one knows where they are. After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, the G7 countries decided to block Russia's gold and currency reserves located abroad, which were estimated at $300 billion. But in the end, less than a third of this amount was arrested and the rest was simply not found. So reports the analytical center Atlantic Council, in collaboration with NATO. Now officials are trying to find the remaining reserves or the Russian institution that owns them. At the same time, analysts say, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation does not make the task any easier: the regulator last published a report on the structure of its reserves in January and has not updated it since. http://www.geoestrategia.es/index.php/noticias/historico-de-noticias/39497-2022-12-06-15-42-53