Major Oil Trading Companies Still Doing Business in Russia

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With the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many companies started to declare that they will stop doing business with Russia, an opinion piece in Tribune de Geneve says.

Some oil giants have officially pledged that they will stop buying Russian oil due to the ongoing situation.

However, numbers show a different story. Only this spring, Russia has collected EUR 59 Billion in revenue from trading petroleum products, Finnish Research center CREA claims.

Of course, some of the major oil trading companies have started their pullout from the country. At the same time, a small group of 20 companies resumed their trading parties with Russia and even increased their shipments of Russian oil since the war has broken out.

One-third of these companies that are currently trading have strong ties with Geneva, Switzerland.

This is portrayed in the data collected from ports and port agents, but also from tracking the movements of tankers around Russian oil ports. Some of the companies such as Chevron, BP, Exxon have reduced their trade dealings, according to a document, obtained by the Tribune de Geneve, whose author is unknown.

On the other hand, companies like Lukoil, which sells most of its oil in Geneva through its subsidiary Litasco, and Rosneft which has close ties to the Kremlin, have increased their shipments.

Another company that is said to have increased its daily exports of Russian oil by about 18,000 barrels between February and May is Amur Trading, TdG writes.

It has just come to light that this business is supported by the Geneva-based oil trading giant Vitol.

Both companies share the same address in Place des Bergues, according to Tribune de Geneve.

On the company’s board of directors is a representative from Vitol and a financial director.

Vitol, however, announced in the spring that it will stop trading Russian oil by the end of this year.

According to some estimates, its daily quantities would have dropped by over 200,000 barrels since February. However, those of Amur Trading have increased in the same period, but to a smaller extent.

According to reports, between May 8 and May 14, the Geneva company filled two cargo ships with diesel in the Russian port of Tuapse.

When questioned, Vitol confesses to being an Amur Trading shareholder whose actions are “aligned” with his.

The group claims that its pledge to quit using Russian oil is still valid.

The Geneva firm predicts a considerable decline in volumes in the second quarter and the cessation of this activity by the end of 2022.