Where is Russia Today?

More Companies and Vessels of the Shadow Fleet Emerge

We previously posted articles about the role of Etibar Eyyub and Bellatrix Energy Limited in the Russian Shadow Fleet and asked others to share anything else they knew about the companies involved to keep building the network.

Since that request, we've received a spreadsheet on BlueSky. We have not verified the source yet (if anyone else can verify the content, please do), but a brief read and some research shows it contains a lot of companies and vessels already sanctioned as Shadow Fleet. More interestingly it contains some that AREN'T sanctioned yet.

The data shows details of companies insured by Russian insurance provider Ingosstrakh Insurance Company and AlfaStrakhovanie PLC (already sanctioned), and China registered PICC Property and Casualty Company Limited Nanjing Branch. These are dated from Summer 2022 to early Autumn 2024. The majority of products being insured appear to have been loaded in Russia and are oil related.

In 2022, according to this data, Bellatrix Energy Limited was seemingly the primary company insured for the shipment of oil products, with Everest Energy DMCC, Icdas Celik Enerji Tersane Ve Ulasim A S, Nayara Energy Limited and Petrokim Trading Middle East And Asia DMCC also appearing.

Moving into 2023, Bellatrix still dominates the trades, closely followed by Voliton DMCC. Other companies that begin to emerge in 2023 are:

• Atlas Trading International FZCO
• Blackford Corporation Limited
• Coral Energy DMCC
• Disentis Trading L.L.C-FZ
• Foxton FZCO
• Guron Trading Limited
• Pontus Trading DMCC
• Shanghai Energy Resources Co Ltd
• Ultimate Spirit Limited
• World Trading Corporation Limited

According to the Insider, some of these are connected to the network run by Tahir Garayev and Etibar Eyyub. In December 2023, OFAC sanctioned Hong Kong registered Bellatrix Energy Limited and Voliton DMCC, which creates an interesting data point in the spreadsheet. Soon after the US sanctions, the number of companies utilized for the trade of Russian oil dramatically expands to include:

• Ace Commodity Limited FZE
• Aclotte Logistics FZE
• Allegro Development Limited
• Alphatrade FZE
• Apexis Energy FZE
• Arctos Shipping & Trade DMCC
• Arrada Energy FZE
• Augusta Commodity Enterprise FZE
• Balmo Trading FZE
• EastImplex Stream FZE
• EcoMatrix Oil and Commodity FZE
• Fadas Trade FZE
• Fuel and Oil Dynamics FZE
• FusionFlux Energy FZE
• Glenbrook Corporation Limited
• Global Fertilizers Limited
• Grandall Continental FZE
• Hinera Trading Fzco
• Marinex Limited
• Marion Commodity DMCC
• Newton Resources FZE
• Oxel Solutions FZE
• Pacific Waters DMCC
• Rockwell Energy FZE
• RR Alliance FZE
• Rubus FZE
• Skyion Solutions FZE
• Sns Commodities Dmcc
• Square Energy DMCC
• Teton Global Trading Limited
• TetraWaters FZE
• Totcor Trade FZE
• Tradestream Global FZE
• Valorup Continental FZE
• Vertex Enterprise Limited
• Wissol Commodities Fzco
• Zion Trade Limited FZE

A number of these companies are not new to us, some are included on existing sanctions lists. Many of the vessels listed are sanctioned by either the US, EU or UK although plenty are not. However, this spreadsheet shows how vessels in the network are moving from sanctioned to non-sanctioned company, which suggests many of the new names should also be investigated as part of Russia's Shadow Fleet and considered for sanctions.

We will continue to delve into this data, to see what else we can uncover. We invite our readers to do the same and help us keep building a picture of this network. As the spreadsheet we're exploring only has data up to Autumn 2024, we suspect the list of companies has grown even further and there may be hundreds now involved. This could mean Russia is still making massive profits to fund their war in Ukraine. If between us we can expose more of the network, Russia will find it much harder to hide its covert oil trades. Anyone buying oil from these traders and vessels will know they must apply sanction price caps and Russia's profits to fund the war will drop.

If you want to explore this data with us, here it is: https://1drv.ms/x/s!AuhDOOmO0AwrcNxXCmYvP7FpMK4?e=5ccLG1