TRANSCRIPT:
According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, in the first six months of this year, Australia has imported more than 1.4 million tonnes of refined oil products from at least three refineries that use Russian crude oil.
Two of these refineries are in India, Jamnagar and New Mangalore, and one in China, Qingdao Huangdao refinery.
Respectively, their runs have been 26 per cent, 41 per cent and 7 per cent on Russian crude.
The Centre collates this data from a variety of sources, though stresses it is not exhaustive.
It attributes this to a loophole in the regulations of sanctioning countries and blocs including the European Union and G-7.
This is Vaibhav Raghunandan,E-U Russian Analyst and Research writer at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
"The oil sanctions on Russia enforced by EU/G7 countries mean that they can't import crude oil or oil products from Russia, but unfortunately there exists a built-in loophole, a legal loophole, which allows them to import refined oil products from countries that are not sanctioning Russia, countries like China, India, and Turkey."
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Australia imposed a raft of autonomous sanctions including restrictions on the import, purchase or transport of certain goods that are from, or originated in, Russia.
Those goods include oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas, coal and other energy products.
This is Dr Anton Moiseienko, a senior lecturer in law at the Australian National University.
"If it were possible for companies to buy refined Russian oil simply because it passes through a third-party jurisdiction and is refined there, then that would undermine the robustness of the Australian sanctions regime, because ultimately we need to recall that the raison d'etre of those rules is to make it more difficult for Russia to make money through selling oil, not to cause them to outsource the refining of that oil to another country."
In a statement to SBS, a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said:
"Our sanctions and trade measures have been carefully calibrated to deny Russia access to Australia's markets and ensure Australia does not inadvertently fund Russia's war machine. The Department of Foreign Affairs is currently considering issues relating to imported oil and grease products transformed from Russian crude oil."
Since Russia was hit with international sanctions, India has become one of the key importers of cut-price Russian oil.
This month, India’s President Narendra Modi made his first visit to Russian President Vladimir Putin since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the leaders discussing the development of strategic areas of economic cooperation, including oil refining.
According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, in 2023 Australia imported refined oil products from Vadinar refinery in India, owned by Nayara Energy, whose major shareholder is Rosneft, a Russian oil company sanctioned by Australia.
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has told SBS it does not comment on specific or potential compliance matters.
This is Vaibhav Raghunandan again.
"If we expand and go beyond Australia, then you see that Vadinar actually exports a lot of products to countries like the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Italy. There's a lot of EU/G7 countries still importing from a refinery that is essentially owned by a company that's sanctioned. And this is like a huge glaring loophole in the sanctions itself, because it allows these revenues to flow directly back to Russia."
