Bloomberg: Oil Trader Showdown Hits Rosneft And The Kremlin's Budget
2- 24.10.2025, 16:05
- 6,640
There is a struggle for influence in the oil market.
A serious conflict between key figures in Russia's oil business is threatening the export system the Kremlin depends on to finance its war against Ukraine.
According to RBC-Ukraine, citing Bloomberg.
According to Bloomberg, traders who control the bulk of Rosneft's oil supplies have begun exposing rivals' ties to Russia in an attempt to trigger Western sanctions against them.
The battle for influence in the oil market
According to sources and internal documents, the standoff between oil trader Murtaza Lakhani and two Azerbaijani businessmen - Etibar Eyubov and Tahir Garayev - has already cost Rosneft and the Russian state billions of dollars.
The situation threatens the company's CEO, Igor Sechin, because of the discounts and rising costs.
After the United States imposed sanctions on Rosneft itself for the first time and the Russian economy continues to weaken, Vladimir Putin finds himself in a difficult position. Rosneft's first-half earnings have plunged 68% and the price of oil has fallen nearly 20% from its January highs.
Now a new conflict within the export network threatens even greater financial losses.
Attacks and fighting through the media
Bloomberg sources say allies of Eyyubov and Garayev tried to publish stories in Russian publications to draw Western attention to Lakhani's ties to Rosneft. In response, Lakhani launched his own campaign, trying to put his rivals on the radar of Western regulators.
Coral Energy, a company founded by Garayev in 2010 (later renamed 2Rivers), even turned to lobbyists in Washington to bring information about rival activities to the attention of U.S. and European officials.
Similar methods have already been used many times in gray oil trading schemes, when disclosure of competitors' data led to sanctions and loss of partners.
Sanctions and the fall in Rosneft's revenues
After the UK and the EU imposed sanctions on a network of Azerbaijani traders in 2024, their business faced serious restrictions. Banks, insurance companies and brokers started avoiding deals with them, and each contract became more expensive.
As a result, Rosneft was forced to offer additional discounts and look for alternative supply routes, which led to new losses. According to sources, the combined losses for the company and the Russian budget run into billions of dollars.
How Russia is losing control of its oil network
-"These disputes show how vulnerable Russia's sanctions circumvention system is," said expert Tatiana Mitrova of Columbia University's Center for Global Energy Policy. She said the Kremlin relies on a limited range of opaque intermediaries to export oil and obtain foreign exchange.
- When they start fighting among themselves, it jeopardizes billions in export revenues and demonstrates how little control Moscow really has over these offshore structures," she said.
The Rise and Fall of Oil Intermediaries
Lakhani, Eyyubov and Garayev are names little known to the general public, but since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, they have been the ones ensuring the flow of hundreds of millions of barrels of Russian oil. Lakhani, who previously described himself as "Glencore's man in Baghdad," became Sechin's key partner after 2022, circumventing Western sanctions through a network of companies in the UAE.
In 2024, however, his position began to wane as Eyyubov and Garayev quickly took over as Rosneft's main traders. Their structure, operating offshore and backed by connections in the Azerbaijani government, forced Lakhani out of the market. But by 2025, he was back, strengthening his position in Dubai and once again becoming an intermediary between Moscow and Asian partners.
New threat to Rosneft and the Kremlin
Lakhani's activation irritated the sanctioned Azerbaijani traders, and they stepped up information attacks. For Sechin, it has become another problem amid falling profits and sanctions pressure.
"This is a symptom of the growing tension within the Russian military economy," Mitrova summarized. Dependence on a small group of intermediaries makes the Russian oil system highly unstable, she said.
Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL97116022020000000216711123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims
You can contact us by the e-mail charter97@gmail.com
