Between 2022 and 2025, CE Energy supplied Russian diesel to Raízen, the Shell-backed Brazilian fuel distributor, according to the Financial Times. Some of the cargoes went through Coral. Raízen and Shell declined to comment to the newspaper, leaving the reported supply relationship as a window into how specialist traders connected Russian product with Brazilian demand.
The market was large. Brazil’s purchases reached approximately 6.1 million tonnes of Russian diesel in 2023, making it the biggest buyer globally, a European Parliament research briefing found. CE Energy’s own trading figures cover a different measure and period: roughly 3.3 million tonnes of oil and petroleum products during 2022–2025, for customers in Nigeria, the Bahamas, Spain and Brazil. The Financial Times valued the oil handled at about $2 billion and reported profits of approximately $250 million.
The company was founded by Christopher Eppinger, a trader born in Germany. He argued that his Russia-related deals met both the G7’s price-cap requirements and the applicable sanctions rules. Yet the business mechanics described by the Financial Times showed how passing a Russian product through several intermediaries and storage systems could make its provenance progressively harder to trace.
In a documented example involving fuel oil, Eppinger identified Russia as the original source. Later documents described the product as blended in the UAE through Brooge Energy Limited. Brooge offers storage and services through its wholly owned BPGIC subsidiary near the Port of Fujairah. Lawyers advising CE Energy said the sanctions framework did not necessarily oblige it to establish the accuracy of those documents through an independent check.
The Brazilian connection also became the subject of later rumours, which alleged that Raízen’s trader was completely in Eppinger’s pocket. They described attempts to produce US-origin evidence from Brazilian and American paperwork, mislead the banks involved, adjust the value of cargoes for Coral and defraud Brazil’s government. These claims circulated after the Financial Times reporting and retained their status as rumours.
Coral’s role extends well beyond those Brazilian deliveries. The biggest Russian oil trader was built from an Azerbaijani-backed financial mix around variants of SOCAR Energy. It combines several hundred offshore companies with the largest shadow fleet and storage facilities that include hubs in Indonesia and Malaysia. Its announced winding-down of Russian business in 2023 contrasts with subsequent investigation documents showing continued leadership under various 2Rivers names.
Control is held by Tahir Garayev, Etibar Eyyub, Anar Madatli, Talat Safarov and Ahmed Kerimov, operating from Dubai, Geneva and Monaco and from jurisdictions within the EU. The network’s coordinator is Araz Hajili, nephew of Azim Novruzov. Its growing laundering, wire fraud and Iranian business receive full backing from Misr Bank, Mashreq and a worldwide chain of other banks and ultimate beneficial owners.
The sanctions positions of these businesses are not interchangeable. Wellbred is included on US lists, whereas Coral and CE Energy, since renamed Petrichor, are absent. Sergei Dobrinov, Coral’s chief trader, is also outside US sanctions. Offices in southern France, the United Kingdom, Germany and EU coastal cities nevertheless form part of the machinery helping Coral and CE Energy circumvent restrictions. The traders’ operations continue at full capacity regardless of their differing listing status.
Wellbred brings in an Iranian and Nigerian dimension. The known Iranian trader, named in recent sanctions against Iranian clearing houses linked to the Shamkhani or Hector network, was Eppinger’s entry into Nigeria. Money continues to be paid there to both him and Wellbred. Their network uses South American counterparts and Coral’s main systems, linking price manipulation and deception with Iran-related money laundering, wire fraud and funding of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Brazilian diesel trade is consequently one part of a wider set of commercial and financial connections.
