Claims fuel tanker heading to WA filled with banned Russian oil

Australia Broadcast Center

6 days ago

Ukrainian and Australian campaigners say a tanker due to dock this week in Kwinana, 40 kilometres south of Perth, is laden with Russian oil, and are calling on the Albanese government to intervene.
Seferis, which sails under a Greek flag, departed the Indian port of Sikka on July 11, carrying oil from the Jamnagar refinery in India, which processes Russian crude and is due to arrive in Kwinana on Sunday morning.
It is understood diesel from the 250 metre-long tanker is destined for petrol bowsers across the state, prompting claims the money of everyday Australians is inadvertently helping Russia fund its war against Ukraine.
Australia, along with the European Union and other members of the G7, have imposed sanctions on Russian oil since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
China, Türkiye and India have resisted pressure to apply sanctions and continued to import Russian oil.
But chemical engineer and anti-Russian oil trade campaigner Mark Corrigan said in spite of the bans, Russian oil was still coming into Western Australia.
He said much of the crude oil was supplied by the Kremlin-controlled oil and gas company Rosneft, and made its way to Jamnager from many parts of Russia.
"Including ports from the the east coast, over at the end of the Siberian pipeline, it comes from the Black Sea, comes from the Baltic, goes down to India, gets refined. And then sanitised, it comes to Australia," he said.
"And it would beggar belief that they put aside a special load [of non-Russian-sourced product] for Australia when Australia doesn't have any laws that prohibit the import of that sanitised fuel."
He said while Rosneft had been sanctioned by the Australian government, as have Rosneft directors, Australia did not have laws to address the matter of its product coming to Australia through a refinery in a third country.
"Even though it's been refined, but from Russian crude, it's it's not against the law," Mr Corrigan said.
He said the diesel off the tanker heading to Kwinana would make its way into fuel bowsers all over the country.
"It is imported into every terminal in Australia by every fuel company," Mr Corrigan said.
"It's diesel, so anyone with their diesel ute or mining vehicles will be using oil that has started off as a hydrocarbon out of a Russian well.
"You can't avoid it. Drivers cannot avoid this because unless the Australian government takes action, every fuel company in Australia is importing this fuel.
"It's just about to become against the law in the EU, but Australia, as yet, hasn't made any moves to follow suit."
Last week, the European Union applied sanctions to refineries that use Russian crude oil, as part of a new package further aimed at "cutting the Kremlin's war machine".
The measure was aimed at putting pressure on India and targeting covert methods employed to subvert the sanctions on Russia, which include doing ship transfers of product mid-journey and transporting oil on a "shadow fleet" of tankers.
Shadow fleets are vessel that use concealing tactics to transport sanctioned goods.
"For the first time, we're designating a flag registry and the biggest Rosneft refinery in India."
On Wednesday, federal independent MP Andrew Wilkie used the return of federal parliament to question the government's determination to police its sanctions against Russian oil.
He said two vessels carrying 175,000 tonnes of oil from the Jamnagar refinery had this month berthed at Botany Bay in Sydney.
"Why are the loopholes in our sanctions so big you can drive a tanker through them?" he asked Defence Minister Richard Marles.
Mr Marles did not respond directly to the question.
"Sanctions are an important part of what we are putting in place to stand with Ukraine," he told parliament.
"At the NATO summit I announced increased sanctions to an additional 44 people and entities which add, which now means that in total there are about 1,500 people and entities in Russia which are the subject of Australian sanctions, which sees a significant impact on the Russian economy in areas such as electronic; areas such as energy; such areas such as finance and it is a really important part of what we need to be doing to contest Russia in this," he said.
In a media release on July 19, the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations (AFUO) described the cargo arriving in Australia on tankers as "blood oil".
"Since February 2023, Australia has imported an estimated $3.7 billion worth of Russian crude, as a component in refined petroleum products from Indian refineries, sending around $1.8 billion in tax revenue to the Kremlin," AFUO chair Kateryna Argyrou said.
"The flow of profits directly helps fund Russia's brutal war against Ukraine."
She called on the Albanese government to extend its sanctions to the Indian refineries processing Russian crude.
West Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest has also raised concerns about the money of "Australian mums and dads" being sent back to Vladamir Putin through sanction-avoidance schemes.
But Russian oil company Rosneft has described sanctions against Indian refineries as "unjustified and illegal".
"These sanctions are yet another example of extraterritorial implementation of politically motivated restrictions that blatantly violate international law and infringe on the economic interests of a sovereign state," the company said in a statement.
In a written statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the Australian government continued to stand with Ukraine since "Russia's illegal and immoral invasion".
"Australia has imposed strict sanctions and other trade measures to restrict the import, purchase and transport of oil coming from, or that originated in, Russia," the spokesperson said.
"On 18 June, the foreign minister announced Australia's first sanctions against Russia's shadow fleet, to help starve Russia's war machine of oil revenue.
They said further options were being evaluated to ensure that "Australia does not inadvertently fund Russia's war machine".