German trader Christopher Eppinger earned $250 million in two years from Russian oil subject to sanctions, according to the Financial Times.
When the West severed its energy ties with Moscow in 2022, the global oil market underwent restructuring. While large corporations preferred not to take risks for fear of violating sanctions, independent traders continued to trade Russian oil. One of them was German Christopher Eppinger. In two and a half years, he made deals worth about $2 billion and earned over $250 million personally. His path illustrates how the new energy reality works, in which formal restrictions are circumvented through intermediaries and transit countries.
Eppinger was born in 1994 near Hamburg to a family of immigrants from the USSR. He grew up at the intersection of cultures, received a business education, and at the age of 21 found himself in Kazakhstan, at KMG. After receiving a million dollars from SET Select Energy founder Thure von Wahl for a mini fuel production facility, Eppinger attracted additional investment, but his local partners disappeared along with the money. In 2021, one of the investors tried to accuse the young entrepreneur of fraud, but the charges fell apart.
He found a new job in Dubai. Having secured a position related to deliveries to the Uniper refinery in the emirate of Fujairah, Eppinger found himself at the heart of global logistics. After 2022, Uniper will prohibit him from making any deliveries of Russian oil. But when there is demand, sooner or later supply appears. This is how Eppinger’s collaboration with Tejarinaft began. Their role is simple: oil passes through the UAE and ‘changes its origin,’ that is, it formally becomes mixed. The sanction price of $60 turns into $90, and the margin goes into the trader’s pocket. The key instrument is a certificate of origin that does not list Russia as the country of origin.
Since February 2023, Eppinger has turned this mechanism into a highly profitable conveyor belt. Between 2022 and 2025, his company will sell 3.3 million tonnes of oil to buyers from Brazil to China.
However, against the backdrop of growing tensions, the US began to impose sanctions on Dubai traders, even those who did not formally violate the price cap. Because of this, Eppinger stopped working with Russian oil. Formally, all transactions were structured within the framework of ‘workaround’ mechanisms used by hundreds of companies around the world. However, despite the fact that Eppinger makes no secret of the fact that he made money on Russian oil, he does not intend to continue such a risky business in the future.
