The Priolo refinery in Sicily, owned by Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil refining group, is seen as an escape route to circumvent sanctions that bar the US from importing oil from Russia following Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.

The complaint is the result of an investigation by the Wall Street Journal, which reconstructed and traced the routes of ships that arrived in Syracuse to unload crude oil and load refined products from the Sicilian Lukoil refining, gasification and cogeneration plant, which receives up to 93% of the crude oil in Russia to produce gasoline, which is then shipped to the United States to groups such as Exxon without officially violating sanctions, Corriere della Sera quoted Rador as saying.

as? The vast majority of oil at the Priolo refinery comes from Russia. In Sicily, Russian oil is refined, a process that makes it “Italian”, according to established practice that allows the crude oil to vary depending on where it is refined.

Since late February, the United States has banned imports of Russian oil as part of sanctions imposed to punish Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as those targeting oligarchs and companies linked to President Putin.

Even the European Union, after months of discussions, decided to follow the example of the USA, and on December 5, the embargo on Russian oil will begin to operate in the EU.

Until then, however, groups in Europe, including Italy, can continue to buy Russian oil without problems. Like ISAB di Priolo. Unlike the largest Russian oil refining group, Rosneft, which is directly controlled by the state, Lukoil has not been sanctioned.

And maintains its presence in the USA, where it distributes petroleum products in 11 states. He can do this because the oil on its way to America stops in Sicily, at Lukoil’s Priolo refinery, the second largest in Italy and the fifth largest in Europe.

Before the war in Ukraine, Priolo ISAB imported oil from at least 15 countries, and Russian oil accounted for an average of 30%. However, most of the oil now comes from Russia, as European banks stopped financing ISAB after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Since April, up to 93% of crude oil imports come from Russia, the rest from Kazakhstan. All oil comes from Russian ports, especially from Primorsk.

According to a WSJ video investigation that used, among other things, satellite imagery to track shipping, all the crude oil that Lukoil currently buys comes from Russian ports.

Specifically, the investigation shows images of the SCF Baltica, an oil tanker owned by Russia’s largest state-owned shipping company and subject to United States sanctions, docked in the Russian port of Primorsk when it was filled with crude oil in late March.

The same tanker was spotted a few weeks after delivering crude oil to Lukoil’s Priolo refinery. This is an important step that allows Lukoil to transport Russian oil all the way to the United States.

This is possible because the US sanctions provide an exception, excluding all products of Russian origin that have undergone “substantial processing” in another country.

Since March of this year, the Priolo refinery has exported almost 5 million barrels of petroleum products to the United States, including 2.5 million barrels of gasoline, enough to fuel 7 million cars.

The WSJ tracked tankers delivering crude from Sicily to seven different buyers at 13 different locations, including Exxon terminals near Houston and New Jersey.

Although it is not always possible to know who is buying, the clients include oil giant Exxon Mobile and Litasko, an oil trading company controlled by Lukoil.

Since March, the largest volumes of crude oil have been delivered to the Exxon Bayton terminal near Houston, Texas. The WSJ also found that most of the gasoline was also shipped to Texas to Magellan Terminal, an energy distribution company.

The representative of the company, admitting that it received gasoline, says that it is not the buyer. And the data doesn’t point to that either.

Another batch of more than 300,000 barrels of gasoline was delivered to a terminal in New Jersey on behalf of Exxon. When asked by the newspaper, Exxon reiterated that it complies with the sanctions and that all products purchased are Italian.

Instead, Lukoil did not respond to the newspaper’s numerous inquiries.

If oil transiting through Sicily represents only a fraction of US oil imports, the Priolo triangulation demonstrates how difficult it is to trace the path of sanctioned oil and thus avoid sanctions.

The Russian oil embargo, which will enter into force in the EU on December 5, will close Priolo’s “hole” in the sanctions network.

This is likely to force the refinery to shut down, with serious consequences for Sicilian workers. But this issue is already being dealt with by the new Minister of Entrepreneurship and Made in Italy, Adolfo Russo.

“The first step has already been taken, with a letter from the MEF Financial Security Committee certifying that the company is not subject to sanctions. This is an important first step, followed by others in a few hours. to create the best possible context so that the company can overcome the decision of December 5 and continue its activities,” Urso said on Monday, clarifying that “all hypotheses are on the table for discussion”, even a possible intervention for the Priolo refinery. through SACE.

Sources: Wall Street Journal, Corriere della Sera, Rador