Shell and Vitol accused of prolonging Ukraine war with sanctions ‘loophole’
Oil company Shell and energy trader Vitol have been accused of prolonging the war in Ukraine by exploiting a “loophole” in the EU sanctions regime to bring products derived from Russian oil into Europe through Turkey.
Oleg Ustenko, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s economic adviser, has urged the energy companies to commit to a deadline to halt the trade of a “Russian-origin oil products” to reduce Vladimir Putin’s war coffers, the Guardian can reveal.
The EU implemented a ban on importing seaborne Russian crude oil on 5 December – the same day as a G7 price cap on Russian seaborne exports – and the ban was extended to refined products such as diesel and fuel oil on 5 February.
However, refineries in India and Turkey have ramped up their imports from Russia since the start of the war and have been accused of providing a “back door” for Russian oil exports to be refined, re-badged and exported around the world.
Analysis of data from commodity tracker Kpler by non-profit group Global Witness found that Shell had imported more than 600,000 barrels of refined products into the Netherlands from Turkish refineries known to import Russian oil since 5 December.
While it cannot be proved whether the products were definitely derived from Russian crude, Turkish refineries are importing vast quantities from Russia which can then be immediately refined or blended with crude from other nations.
The Global Witness study showed that in 2022 Turkey imported 143m barrels of crude from Russia, a 50% increase from 2021. One refinery dominated that trade – Star in Aliaga, on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.
The refinery is owned by the Turkish division of Azerbaijan’s state oil firm Socar. It took more than 60m barrels of crude from Russia in
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