Billions of Dollars of Oil Trade Based on Personal Relationships, But Will it Last?
Volume of oil
We have continued to expose a staggering number of companies within the Etibar Eyyub and Takhir Garayev network. Further research has shown that companies in this network were responsible for a third of all Russia's seaborne crude oil exports in 2024 - more than 50 million tonnes. This included the overwhelming majority of Rosneft's exports. An article from Whalehunting has claimed that Eyyub and Garayev allegedly are the traders behind nearly 80% of Russian oil exports, including Rosneft's. In 2025 they continue to expand their network and trade Russian oil. This equates to a huge amount of revenue, which is so vital to Russia's teetering economy.
Eyyub and Garayev's personal relationships with Rosneft seniors
It comes as no surprise that the network is responsible for so much of Rosneft's oil trade; as we and others have noted before, Eyyub and Garayev have close personal relationships with Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin. They have traveled with him previously, even joining him for meetings with foreign counterparts in Qatar, and spending time together at his private hunting lodge.
Information has also come to our attention to show that, not only do Eyyub and Garayev have a relationship with Sechin, but are rumored to have been seen with members of the Russian Ministry of Energy. Information has been shared with us that Sergey Dobrinov, another member of the upper management within Eyyub and Garayev's network, may also have been seen with Russian Ministry of Energy officials. Being responsible for all of this critical Russian oil revenue which is key to Russia's war machine, it's no suprise that they have a personal relationship with the Russian state and the man known as 'Putin's Wallet'.
The relationship continues; our sources have revealed that as recently as mid-2025, companies within the network continue to update Rosneft seniors and that in 2025, Eyyub and other key senior individuals in this network, such as 2Rivers CFO Ahmed Kerimov continue to follow orders directly from Rosneft senior figures. Despite publicly insisting that 2Rivers is a new, seperate venture, in late 2024, senior Rosneft officials continued to use 'Coral' to refer to the wider network of companies, even following the rebrand to 2Rivers and after Coral Energy no longer existed as an entity.
Relationships become strained
Such an important network built on just one or two personal relationships is inevitably fragile. What would happen should those relationships start to deteriorate? If trust was lost? If Eyyub started to think he should be the one giving ordrers? Maybe we are about to find out?
We are told the sanctions to 2Rivers DMCC, 2Rivers PTE and associated vessels in December 2024 made Rosneft seniors angry. While these are simply two companies in a network of many, would Rosneft be happy that their supposedly underground and trusted oil trading network suddenly appeared to be under so much scrutiny from the public and Western governments?
With the weight of Russia's war economy and such scrutiny and spotlight, it's no surprise to hear that the relationship between Eyyub, Garayev and Rosneft is under significant strain. The in-fighting has begun, trust has broken down, with questions now being asked over the finances of the operation. You can see how it could happen; you're generating tens of billions of dollars for Rosneft, who would notice slight discrepancies in the numbers? The tensions may be filtering down, staff morale within the network is low.
All of the above begs the question of who would be set to take over Eyyub and Garayev's oil trading empire, if the relationship between them and Rosneft officials, namely Sechin, finally crumbles. It's hard to speculate at this point, given the complex structure Eyyub and Garayev have built, essentially creating a network of companies able to absorb sanctions, which Rosneft is able to direct at will. But it doesn't matter how many companies you have, if the trust at the top no longer exists, and it's clear that the relationships they have built their empire on are increasingly strained, and possibly on the brink of collapse.
