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The UK has sanctioned Dutch oil trader Niels Troost and his Swiss-based operation Paramount Energy & Commodities SA, whose entanglement with the Russian oil trade was first exposed by the Financial Times.
Troost is the highest-profile figure in energy trading, outside of Russian oligarchs and officials, to be targeted directly by western sanctions. The UK Treasury said on Thursday it was sanctioning him because of his association with Paramount SA which has been “involved in obtaining a benefit from or supporting the government of Russia”.
The veteran Dutch trader has been targeted as part of an array of sanctions timed to coincide with the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Saturday. It also comes one week after the suspicious death of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny in a penal colony.
The UK government said “Troost facilitates the unfettered trade of Russian oil outside the reach of UK and G7 sanctions”.
Foreign secretary David Cameron said “international economic pressure” meant Russia was struggling to afford the invasion. “Our sanctions are starving Putin of the resources he desperately needs to fund his struggling war.”
Other energy projects were targeted by the UK, including the Arctic 2 LNG development in Russia, which has already been hit by the US.
The sanctions against Troost will freeze any assets he might own in the UK, impose a travel ban and restrict his access to some UK financial services.
The Treasury alleged that Troost had owned or controlled a Dubai-based subsidiary, Paramount Energy & Commodities DMCC, “directly or indirectly”.
The FT revealed last March that the Dubai vehicle had traded a type of Russian oil that routinely priced above the G7 price cap, while using western-based insurance services — a potential breach of restrictions imposed by western powers to try to crimp Moscow’s oil revenues.
The crude, known as Espo-blend, is produced in eastern Russia and exported from the port of Kozmino, mainly to refineries in China.
At the time, Paramount SA and Paramount DMCC said the two entities were operated and managed “totally independently”, and that Troost has no “direct” holding in the Dubai-based Paramount. It denied breaching any western sanctions, saying its operations complied with all applicable “laws and regulations”.
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office sanctioned the Dubai-based Paramount in November, but had stopped short of targeting Troost or the Swiss-based trading operation.
Troost had long claimed that he was not involved in establishing Paramount DMCC, that he had no management role in the business and that, as a separate legal entity incorporated in the UAE, its activities were not subject to European restrictions.
“Paramount SA has acted at all times in line with all applicable laws and regulations. We intend to challenge this ill-conceived and incorrect measure,” a spokesperson for Troost and the Geneva-based company said on Thursday.
The FCDO stated in November that Paramount DMCC was “known to employ deceptive shipping practices as well as opaque ownership structures, and has been used by Russia to soften the blow of oil-related sanctions imposed by the UK in co-ordination with G7 partners”.
In 2022 Troost, through another Dubai-based company, also acquired a 40 per cent stake in a Turkish oil terminal through which large volumes of Russian oil have passed during the war, the FT reported in January. Troost formally exited that business in November.
Additional reporting by Shotaro Tani
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
