According to The Guardian, oil major Shell and the energy broker Vitol have been charged with prolonging the conflict in Ukraine by making use of a “loophole” in the EU sanctions system to import goods made from Russian oil through Turkey.
In order to cut down on Vladimir Putin’s war coffers, Oleg Ustenko, the economic advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has pushed the energy corporations to agree to a timetable to stop trading in “oil products of Russian origin.”
On December 5, the EU implemented a restriction on buying seaborne Russian crude oil, coinciding with a G7 price cap on Russian seaborne exports.
On December 5, the EU implemented a restriction on buying seaborne Russian crude oil, coinciding with a G7 price cap on Russian seaborne exports.
However, since the conflict, refineries in India and Turkey have boosted their imports from Russia and have been charged with acting as a “back door” for Russian oil shipments to be processed, rebranded, and shipped throughout the world.
According to an explosive report by the Guardian, since December 5th, Shell has imported more than 600,000 barrels of refined goods into the Netherlands via Turkish refineries that are known to receive Russian oil, according to research done by the nonprofit organisation Global Witness using data from the commodities tracker Kpler.
Although it is impossible to say for sure, Turkish refineries are importing significant amounts of Russian oil, which can then be instantly processed or combined with crude from other countries.
Immediately following the start of the Ukrainian conflict, Shell declared its intention to end its “involvement in all Russian hydrocarbons” in March of last year.
Ustenko acknowledged Shell had not violated any sanctions in a letter to Wael Sawan, the new chief executive of the company, which was obtained by the Guardian.
However, he claimed that importing goods from Turkish refineries “awash” in Russian oil “flies in the face of Shell’s pledge to withdraw from its involvement in Russian crude oil and petroleum products” and “exploits a loophole in the EU sanctions regime.”
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