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Rabat – Despite EU sanctions prohibiting imports of Russian diesel, reports in Spanish media have suggested that the Iberian country still receives fuel from Moscow through Moroccan companies.
On Thursday, Spanish outlet El Mundo reported that Morocco had begun to export diesel to Spain at the same time that it began importing more of it from Russia.
The paper highlighted the contrast between Morocco’s historical status as a regular importer of the resource, and its newfound role as an exporter to several countries since the beginning of this year.
“In fact, Rabat has come to cover 10% of the monthly demand for diesel in Spain, with a value of around $60 million (54.4 million euros), according to international ship monitoring data,” El Mundo explained.
Additionally, two shipments that arrived at Spanish ports between January and March have aroused suspicion with an “unusual” trajectory.
The two ships, the STI Clapham and the Honesty, were loaded in the Russian town of Primorsk and made a stop in Tangier. The ships were carrying 23,000 and 47,000 tons of diesel respectively.
The trajectory aroused suspicion among port authorities who held the Honesty up for longer than usual in Cartagena, El Mundo added, despite them presenting documentation that the transported fuel was of Saudi origin.
Experts told the outlet that the trajectory could be explained either by Moroccan companies loading the Russian fuel into new ships and re-exporting it as Saudi product, or the ships simply being emptied of the Russian fuel on Moroccan shores and restocked with Saudi product.
Spanish energy companies had previously expressed concern over Russian oil exports to different countries, declaring that fuel from Russia will still be on the market despite the EU’s sanctions.
“It [Russian diesel] is still in the European market and still in the European market,” said on Thursday Josu Jon Imaz, CEO of Spanish energy company Repsol. “Of course, there are several destinations: Turkey, North Africa… but this diesel is coming to the EU.”
“I hope that the European authorities will be very firm about maintaining the sanctions on Russian products,” he added.
The reports come shortly after many in Morocco called for investigations into energy companies suspected of selling Russian fuel at inflated prices.
Several reports earlier this year expressed similar concerns about Russian oil being mixed and re-exported to countries where sanctions on Russian goods should be enforced.
Read also: Concerns Over Russian Oil Being Mixed, Re-Exported to Europe from North Africa
Moroccan MP Abdelkader Taher had raised similar worries, denouncing energy companies for manipulating prices on the market by fraudulently claiming that their Russian imported fuel was sourced from Gulf countries.
Taher demanded the launch of an investigation into the matter, alleging that some companies import Russian gas that is 70% cheaper than from other countries, and proceed to forge import documents to make it look like they come from GCC countries or the US.
“All of this happens with the explicit complicity of the company managing the fuel depot in the port of Tanger Med, away from any monitoring of the state financial apparatus,” the MP said, adding that the companies make “staggering revenues” from the practice.
Morocco’s government spokesperson Mustapha Baitas responded to the allegations by saying that the country’s imports of Russian gas have always been within the range of 10% of total imports.
