BRUSSELS: An obscure Pakistani-Canadian businessman is named among those sanctioned by Western authorities for dealing in sanctioned Russian oil and enriching Vladimir Putin’s war economy.
The European Union on Monday adopted fresh sanctions against Russian oil interests, targeting a handful of traders for helping Moscow to circumvent Western sanctions on crude exports.
The latest EU sanctions prohibit the bloc’s citizens from doing business with the listed companies and individuals, reducing their access to shipping and insurance providers. The EU has listed more than 2,600 individuals and companies in total.
The EU has targeted nine individuals and entities supporting Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers, the Council of the European Union and the EU’s Official Journal said, referring to businessmen linked to oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil as well as shipping companies that own and manage tankers.
Murtaza Lakhani is also said to have sold Iraqi oil under Saddam regime; holds stake in Arctic Vostok Oil project
Among those targeted by the EU is Canadian-Pakistani oil trader Murtaza Lakhani, CEO of trading company Mercantile & Maritime. “Through his companies, he enables shipments and export of Russian oil, notably from the Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft,” said the listing in the EU’s Official Journal.
“In particular, Murtaza Lakhani controls vessels transporting crude oil or petroleum products originating in Russia or being exported from Russia.”
He started his career at global trader Glencore, where he worked on Iraqi oil exports during the Saddam Hussein era and later moved to Iraq’s Kurdistan region, where he acted as an intermediary between the oil ministry and international companies to sell oil independently of Baghdad.
During this period, he helped Russian state-controlled energy giant Rosneft to sign oil and gas deals in Kurdistan, working closely with Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, including during signing ceremonies at Russia’s main economic forum in St Petersburg.
Building on this relationship, Lakhani partnered with top oil trader Vitol to invest in a 5pc stake in Rosneft’s largest oil project in decades, Vostok Oil in the Arctic.
“This country (Russia) is the largest resource country in the world. Hampering it is a very short-term effect, not a long-term goal for anybody. They will always need Russia,” he told Russia’s SolovievLive at the St Petersburg Forum in June.
Lakhani, Mercantile & Maritime, Litasco Middle East DMCC and 2Rivers Group did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The EU has imposed 19 packages of sanctions so far, but Moscow has managed to adapt to most measures and is still selling millions of barrels of oil to India and China, albeit at discounts to global prices. Much of this is transported using a so-called shadow fleet of vessels operating outside of the Western maritime industry.
The bloc is expected to list more than 40 ships in Russia’s shadow fleet this week, bringing the total to about 600 vessels.
