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Commodity trader Vitol:
The company is headquartered in Switzerland, as are its competitors Glencor and Gunvor
Photo: Denis Balibouse / REUTERS
Western buyers pay around $850 million a day for Russian oil, gas and refined products - and are thus also financing Putin's murderous war against Ukraine.
It's understandable that Kyiv keeps asking states and companies to stop using Russian energy sources.
In view of the atrocities and war crimes committed by Russian soldiers against the Ukrainian population, the pressure on the European states has increased once again.
For example, a shitstorm swept over the oil giant Shell when it became known at the beginning of March that the group had ordered Russian oil at bargain prices.
Group boss Ben van Beurden (63) formally apologized and announced the gradual and complete withdrawal from business with Russia.
The oil multinational is now followed by Vitol, the world's largest independent oil trader.
The Switzerland-based company (sales in 2020: 123 billion euros) intends to completely stop trading in crude oil and oil products from Russia by the end of this year, reports Bloomberg, citing an email from the company.
According to the Financial Times, Oleg Ustenko, President Zelensky's economic adviser, had previously written to the heads of Vitol, Trafigura, Glencore and Gunvor to end their business with Russia.
"The dealers are in a cycle of funding war crimes and genocide against the Ukrainian people," the FT quoted the Mail as saying.
According to information in the newspaper,
between the beginning of the war and the end of March, the oil and commodity traders mentioned handled 20 million barrels of crude oil and oil products in Russian ports
.
Trafigura (2020 sales: 129 billion euros) said it is buying less Russian oil than before the invasion and is no longer making new oil and gas deals in Russia.
According to the report, Glencor (2020: 125 billion) and Gunvor (2020: 44 billion) also emphasized that they will not develop new businesses, but are legally obliged to fulfill existing trade agreements that are not affected by sanctions.
The dealers did not explain the volume of these contracts.
more on the subject
Oil, gas and coal: farewell to Russian energy - how far have we come?By Anna Driftschröer
Businessman Grimm considers the gas embargo to be manageable: "The payments to Russia should be ended" An interview by Marleen Gruendel
Battle for the shutdown list: What companies can do to ensure that the gas is not cut offThe interview was conducted by Anna Driftschröer
Russian state-owned companies in German gas and oil supply: Putin's Trojan horsesBy Benjamin Bidder and Claus Hecking
Forecast lowered: Leading economists warn of severe recession
In fact, Russian oil and gas are not directly subject to EU sanctions, but this already weak argument pales in the face of the murderous activities of Russian troops in Ukraine.
Nonetheless, refineries, insurers, banks and shipping companies are increasingly sanctioning themselves, fearing the risk of a possible violation of sanctions or damage to their image.
Many European banks have restricted their financing of trading in Russian commodities, and major oil companies such as BP, Shell and Exxon Mobil are under such pressure from shareholders and the government that they now want to give up their holdings and businesses in Russia.
Even refiners in India, which refuses to relinquish Russian arms supplies and Russian oil, are growing uneasy about doing business with Russia, Bloomberg reports.
Only a few states have imposed an import ban
On the state side, it seems that most governments are still a long way from an import ban.
Although the US has imposed a ban on Russian energy sources, they are not as dependent on them as many countries in Europe.
The Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania have stopped importing Russian gas since the beginning of April, Great Britain intends to give up Russian oil by the end of the year, but the rest of Europe is having difficulties with this step.
The federal government in particular is reluctant to do so given Germany's great dependence on Russian gas.
A fatal dependency that has grown over many years, as can now be seen: the five leading economic research institutes only warned on Wednesday of a severe recession and rapidly rising prices if Russian gas suddenly stopped flowing to Germany.
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