One of the largest oil refineries in the UK still works with a branch of the Russian oil and gas company LUKoil.
The Guardian reports this.
The British company Essar Oil stopped all imports of Russian fuel after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. However, as recently submitted reports show, the company provided a line of credit to Litasco, the oil trading division of the Russian Lukoil.
Litasco itself is not subject to sanctions. So the deal, which is effectively a line of credit, allows Essar to buy fuel and pay later.
According to the publication, Litasco is fully owned by LUKoil, whose founder and shareholder, Vagit Alekperov, came under UK sanctions back in April 2022. LUKoil is sanctioned in the US but not in the UK or EU, while Litasco is not sanctioned in either country.
Essar Oil said that the company stopped importing Russian fuel many months before the government deadline and increased its own production, and also does not import any fuel of Russian origin, because it works “in accordance with sanctions legislation.”
Note that by the end of March 2022, Alekperov owned and controlled votes on 3.12% of LUKoil shares. He also had a beneficial economic interest in a further 5.43% of the shares.
However, in April 2022, Russian oil tycoon Alekperov resigned as president of LUKoil.
