Even though the West is taking every measure to limit the use of Russian oil in their regions, it may be difficult to enforce these sanctions absolutely due to the impossibility of tracing Russian oil refined and resold by other nations, according to a major oil executive.
During a first quarter webcast with reporters on May 5, Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said there’s no way to test an oil sample to determine whether a particular molecule originated from a geological formation in Russia.
“Diesel coming out of [an] Indian refinery that was fed with Russian crude is considered to be Indian diesel,” van Beurden said. “It’s very hard to trace back what exactly is and isn’t therefore Russian origin.”
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