Rosneft CEO finds a way to sell Russian oil despite sanctions - Bloomberg
Oil tycoon Lakhani, who has already received interest from the US Treasury, helps Sechin
Murtaza Lakhani, the founder of Mercantile & Maritime Group, a major oil trader, helped Rosneft President Igor Sechin to establish supplies abroad after the introduction of Western sanctions.
Source. Bloomberg writes about this with reference to four sources familiar with the matter.
According to the agency's interlocutors, the tycoon has created a network of companies in the UAE. One of them, Fossil Trading, has a direct connection with Rosneft – in particular, it owns Energopole SA. Other companies in the network are Amur and Tejarinaft. During the first six months of 2023, the former transshipped 120,000 barrels of Russian oil per day, and the latter 55,000 barrels per day.
Most of Lakhani's Russian-related operations are conducted in countries that do not adhere to the $60 per barrel price ceiling set by the G7 countries. Emirati bankers, Indian refiners, Lebanese traders and Russian lawyers are involved in the trade. According to them, companies from Azerbaijan, Greece and the UAE were involved in the transportation of raw materials.
Lakhani worked with Rosneft for almost 10 years before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. According to sources, he and Sechin have become even closer over the past year. The companies Lakhani set up sold Russian oil to customers in India and China. This brought a large income to both Rosneft and the tycoon himself.
Meanwhile, it has become known that the US Treasury Department is investigating Mercantile & Maritime's activities to find out whether it is trading Russian oil in violation of Western sanctions. The department is also looking into whether Lakhani has business ties to Sechin, who is under US sanctions, the WSJ reported.
In June, the tycoon came to the SPIEF in Russia. At a session led by Sechin, he sat in the front row and applauded his speech. The Rosneft CEO then spoke about creating "new, secure logistics chains that provide access to new markets."
Background. As reported, Russia increased oil and gas revenues in September by 15% compared to August.
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