FG seeks to lessen dependence on oil

As Germany looks to ditch Russian oil and gas for good, its domestic energy industry is a key side actor — but can it step up to the plate? We search for clues in the village where Germany's oil sector was born.

Vehicles were left burnt out and fuel pooled on the ground in Nigeria's Imo state on Sunday following an overnight explosion at an illegal oil refining depot. The state commissioner for petroleum resources, Goodluck Opiah, said late on Saturday that 100 people were killed in the explosion, remarking that they were "burnt beyond recognition."

Burnt cars and vans were strewn across the site of a blast on Sunday which occurred at an illegal oil refinery depot on the border of Nigeria’s Rivers and Imo states.

The ban from the world's largest exporter has rocked an already precarious edible oil market. The price of cooking oil has soared as war rages between sunflower oil producers Russia and Ukraine.

At least 80 people have died in an explosion at an illegal oil refinery in southeastern Nigeria, emergency officials say. The disaster highlights the country's problems with oil theft amid high levels of poverty.

Djeneba Belem's fried bean cake stall in Abidjan is a world away from the war raging in Ukraine. But her business is now at the mercy of an unexpected consequence: runaway palm oil prices. The conflict has helped propel prices for palm oil - ubiquitous in African dishes from Nigerian jollof rice to Ivorian sticky alloco plantains - to record highs that experts say will deepen a food-cost crisis and punish the poorest.

Thousands of miles from Ukraine's battlefields, millions of Africans are feeling the impact as the chaos on the global commodities markets hits goods like palm oil.

EU leaders are expected to present the proposed embargo later this week. Supporting the measure would be Germany's second turnaround in as many weeks with regards to Ukraine.

The oil embargo could be upheld for years, the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said. Her Green ally Robert Habeck said complete independence from Russian oil was possible by late summer.

The European bloc is moving closer to banning Russian oil with Germany changing course to support the embargo. But many questions remain open.

As EU member states push for a Russian oil embargo, Germany's PCK Schwedt refinery is facing an uncertain future. It runs wholly on Russian imports, and many locals aren't so sure alternatives can be found in time.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Brussels are at odds again. Hungary refuses to support the planned oil embargo against Russia. But now even former allies such as Poland are turning their backs.