Russia economy meltdown as war erupts between Moscow’s top oil traders | World | News
Russia’s economy is preparing to take yet another hit as a war erupts between the country’s biggest oil traders. Men believed to move the majority of crude oil for state-owned Rosneft PJSC have become embroiled in a bitter rivalry. The disagreement involves trying to expose the other’s links to Russia to get them sanctioned by the West, according to people familiar with the matter and documents seen by Bloomberg News.
Rosneft and the Russian state are spending billions of dollars on the feud between oil trading tycoon Murtaza Lakhani and two competitors, Etibar Eyyub and Tahir Garayev. Igor Sechin, the CEO of the oil company, is said to be aware of the issue amid increased costs and discounted prices.
Associates of Eyyub and Garayev have reportedly tries to plant stories about Lakhani’s dealings with Rosneft in Russian newspapers.
According to the documents and anonymous sources, this was done in the hopes of getting the West to sanction Lakhani.
Eyyub and Garayev have reportedly expressed frustration over scrutiny from Western governments, while Lakhani dodges it.
On the flip side, Lakhani has been trying to alert the authorities to Eyyub and Garayev, people familiar with the matter claimed.
Tatiana Mitrova, of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, suggested the feud could threaten “billions in export revenue”.
She explained: “These disputes expose how fragile Russia’s sanctions-bypass system really is. The Kremlin depends on a handful of opaque intermediaries to move its oil and collect hard currency.
“When they start fighting, it threatens billions in export revenue and reveals how little control Moscow actually has over these offshore networks.”
Garayev’s lawyers told Bloomberg that he does not have any relationship with Rosneft or Eyyub, and he did not make any efforts to damage Lakhani’s reputation. He has not been involved in any “petroleum-related activities” since late 2022, they added.
Lakhani previously denied any involvement in the companies used by Russia to trade its oil outside of the sanctions imposed on it.
