Zeus: EU oil embargo too little, too late

By Trey Thoelcke Published May 5, 10:55AM EDT

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Zeus: EU oil embargo too little, too late — © Evgenii Mitroshin / iStock via Getty Images

By David Callaway, Callaway Climate Insights

(David Callaway is founder and Editor-in-Chief of Callaway Climate Insights. He is the former president of the World Editors Forum, Editor-in-Chief of USA Today and MarketWatch, and CEO of TheStreet Inc.)

SAN FRANCISCO (Callaway Climate Insights) — One of the more bizarre aspects of the tragic Russian invasion of Ukraine is that Western nations have funded it in part by their purchases of Russian oil and gas.

The European Union estimates that the West — mostly Europe — funnels more than $1 billion a day to Russia for its fossil fuels. In total, it’s paid Russia more than $47 billion since it invaded in late February.

This week, the bloc is set to pass an unprecedented embargo of Russian oil, which will be phased in over the next six months. An agreement Wednesday also would prohibit use of European ships — mostly Greek — to transport Russian oil, as well as add Russia’s main oil bank, Sberbank, to the list of banks cut off from the SWIFT trading system. . . .

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.