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One of the top advisers to the Ukrainian president said in a plea to the White House to impose all restrictions, while oil tankers from around the world continue to transport millions of barrels of oil from Russian ports, including several companies chartered by US-based companies. Russian oil trade by American companies.

In an interview from Kiev on Tuesday, Oleg Ustenko, economic adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, urged top managers of Western oil and gas companies not to process oil from Russia and not to hire independent accounting firms. Russian oil is being loaded onto ships.

“We are talking about supplying Russia with the blood money they use to feed a military machine that is killing my people,” Mr. Ustenko said. We need a complete embargo, a complete boycott. All Russian ports should be closed.”

Complicating the picture is the fact that the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, one of Russia’s largest oil terminals, is the hub of a pipeline carrying Russian-blended oil from neighboring Kazakhstan, according to pipeline operators. Experts say this can make it difficult to determine the origin of the oil.

Mr Ustenko said the ongoing oil trade from places like Novorossiysk (with Europe, much of which depends on oil and gas imports from Russia) highlights gaps that allow Russian producers to continue exporting their oil and even making a profit. From high global oil prices, which rose sharply after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Mr. Ustenko said that American companies support this trade. As an example, he cited a tanker chartered by US oil giant Chevron that was carrying around 100,000 tons of crude oil from Novorossiysk on Friday and is currently en route to the Netherlands. According to independent shipping data, the tanker Akdeniz Voyager is carrying a mixture of crude oil.

Separate data collected by Ukraine on vessels contracted to load oil into Russian ports over the next two weeks included at least five Chevron-chartered tankers.

Chevron said in a statement that the oil on board is from Kazakhstan and that the company’s “efforts are being conducted in accordance with US law.” “Access to Kazakh energy resources remains crucial for consumers worldwide,” the company added. Chevron also said it has no exploration or production activities in Russia.

President Biden banned New Russian oil, gas and coal imports from the US in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, these rules do not prohibit the shipment of oil, Russian or otherwise, from Russian ports to destinations in other countries. Still, Mr. Ustenko said the trade violated the spirit of the embargo and urged the White House to ban American companies from processing Russian oil and gas exports, regardless of destination.

Biden administration officials stressed that Washington’s restrictions go far beyond those of other nations that have not yet stopped energy imports, including major US allies in Europe. Europe is particularly dependent on Russian gas and could face a debilitating energy shortage if it cuts off all supplies. Much of the world has also placed severe financial restrictions on Moscow.

A spokesperson for the National Security Council said the United States was able to enforce the fossil fuel embargo “thanks to our strong domestic energy infrastructure”, in addition to a number of other restrictions on Russia’s business activities, and that it was our “strong domestic energy infrastructure”. Russian President Vladimir V. Putin announced the resources he needs to wage a war in Ukraine. But Washington also acknowledges that “not all of our allies and partners are in a position to join us at this time.”

In recent days, a number of Western oil and gas companies have said they will, too. Stop operations in Russiaincluding abandoning joint ventures with state-owned manufacturers. And some major carriers have said they will no longer carry Russian oil or gas, and traders report a decrease in buyers.

Still, Ukraine estimates that Russian ports will continue to ship at least 1.5 million barrels per day of crude oil and other petroleum-based products in the coming weeks. occupation, but enough to earn Russian producers about $700 million a day. Oil, gas and coal make up the majority of Russia’s exports.

Mr. Ustenko was particularly critical of Greek shipping companies, which he said owned many tankers that continued to transport oil from Russian ports. He called on the Greek government to ban these shipments, and also urged the German government to lead the European Union into a physical oil boycott and stop paying Russia for gas, instead depositing the money in an escrow account payable when Russia sued. For peace.

Simon Johnson, a professor of economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, said these shipments exposed a major weakness in the US embargo by allowing the Russians to take advantage of higher oil prices and “make an unexpected gain”. profits from its trade.”

To stop this trade, Washington needed to impose full sanctions, similar to those currently being imposed on Iran, that would ban all US-based companies from trading with Russia. “ The only way to deal with this is to make sure it doesn’t export anything,” said Mr Johnson. “It’s not complicated.”

Energy experts have warned that blended oil from the Novorossiysk pipeline could potentially provide a route that allows Russian producers to continue extracting oil into global markets while concealing the origins of the product. According to the operators of the pipeline, over the past two decades typically about 13 percent Russian oil. The consortium owning the pipeline, 24 percent belongs to the Russian state.

Agnia Grigas, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and an expert on energy and geopolitics in Eastern Europe, said the spirit of the US import ban should already prevent American companies from trading in this oil. “It is nearly impossible to discern the source of the oil particles,” she said.

“If this oil is bought from Russian traders, the results are the same,” he added, as the net effect would be for Russian traders to profit from the trades.

Biden administration officials said that the United States, trying to set an example, avoids disrupting other countries’ energy needs, for example by banning US companies from delivering Russian oil to those countries.

The turmoil in the oil and gas markets has spurred calls for faster transitions to renewable sources such as wind and solar power. Mr Ustenko said the crisis could eventually spur more investment in green energy. “In the long run, everyone will benefit,” he said.

Public censorship of companies that continued to do business with Russia was swift. Earlier this month, Royal Dutch Shell bought the Russian oil shipment at a heavy discount. just under $30 a barrel and had to quickly promise not to make future purchases.

In a televised speech in Ukraine on Tuesday, President Zelensky called on people around the world to boycott Russian products. “Everything is in your hands,” he said. “All trade with Russia must be stopped” is scheduled to address the US Congress on Wednesday.