As part of the sanctions against Russia, the United States has banned the import of Russian oil and other energy products since March this year. But the fact is that Russia's second largest oil group, Luke Oil Company, has been exploiting the rule loopholes to export oil products to the United States through Italian refineries.
•Sanctioned a "lostness"? Russian Oil has become "Made in Italy" through Sicily and sold well in the United States. According to reports from Italy's Evening Post and the 24-Hour Sun, although the United States took the lead in implementing the Russian oil ban, the relevant measures of EU will not take effect until December 5. Therefore, for months, Luke Oil has used its ISAB refinery in the Sicily province of Syracuse to evade sanctions, transforming Russian crude oil into a "made in Italy" petroleum product and continuing to sell it to the United States.
Yesterday (November 1), the US " Wall Street Journal " released a news investigation video, revealing the above situation.
video said that the ISAB refinery is the second largest refinery in Italy and the fifth largest in Europe. Before the Ukrainian crisis broke out, the plant imported oil from at least 15 countries, of which Russian oil accounted for about 30%. But with the beginning of sanctions on Russia, the refinery was unable to continue to obtain loans from European banks, which made the factory unable to purchase oil from other countries. Therefore, since April this year, the proportion of Russian crude oil imported by the factory has reached 93%.
Meanwhile, unlike Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft, Luke Oil has not been sanctioned. In addition, the U.S. sanctions include an exemption clause, that is, Russian products after "substantial transformation" through other countries are not subject to sanctions. Therefore, Luke Petroleum Company thus "preserved" its business to the United States and continued to sell its oil products to 11 states in the United States, including ExxonMobil Group, etc.
reported that tracking of tankers through satellite images also confirmed the above situation. ExxonMobil Group emphasized that it complies with relevant sanctions and that the products it purchased "have been certified by the Italian side."
So, since March, the ISAB refinery has exported nearly 5 million barrels of petroleum products to the United States, including about 2.5 million barrels of gasoline, enough to fill the tank of 7 million cars.
The picture shows Luke Oil's gas station in the United States
• Who is the sanctioned? The countdown to the "life and death" of the Sicily refinery, and tens of thousands of jobs are in danger
The Italian ISAB refinery did not respond to the above "exposure" remarks of the Wall Street Journal. However, Diego Bivona, president of the Federation of Syracuse Industrialists, stated: "ISAB refineries operate on the free market, respect existing contracts and sell their products freely, and more importantly, respect the law." He also added, "Strangely, the report is not instant news, but chose to release at the moment when the Italian government is solving the survival problems of the ISAB refinery."
It is reported that ISAB refineries account for 20% of the Italian refinery capacity . Due to restrictions on EU sanctions on Russia, refineries will be unable to continue using Russian crude oil from December 5. The factory will thus face a crisis of bankruptcy, which will directly cause thousands of employees to lose their jobs and indirectly affect tens of thousands of jobs.
At present, the factory's "life and death" has officially entered the countdown. Italian media said that the Italian government may provide special financing for it to purchase non-Russian crude oil, or set up certain exemptions to help the factory continue to operate.
(Original from Yihuai, Translation: Chen Shuo, Editor: Hua Jiayan, Image source: Video screenshot of "Wall Street Journal", please indicate Yihuai: oushitalia)
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