Priolo is the gateway to Russian oil in America (until December)

There is a bug that allows Russian crude processed into refined products to reach international markets despite the sanctions. This bug is the Lukoil refinery in Priolo, which in recent months since the beginning of the war has continued to refine oil from Moscow and export it to the rest of Europe and the United States. The case is not entirely unknown and on Sheet we had already written about it, but an investigation by Wall Street Journal with satellite images he identified the route of the ships from Russian ports, especially from Primorskarrive at the port in the province of Syracuse.

Once the crude oil is processed in Sicily, in the Priolo Gargallo Isab refinery, Russian oil becomes an Italian product with new characteristics, being refined. In this way it can “circumvent” the sanctions and arrive in the United States, and, in particular, in the plants of the New Jersey he was born in Texas. This is almost 5 million barrels of petroleum products, of which 2.5 million barrels of gasoline. And if, before the measures taken after the invasion of Ukraine, Russia was the fourth supplier of crude oil to the refinery, it is now the first because no one else takes the risk of doing business with Isab, a company wholly owned by a ‘ Swiss company that is owned by the Russian Lukoil. The Priolo plant is completely dependent on Russian crude oil (as well as its workers) and for this reason, in the first six months of 2022, Italy increased imports from Moscow by 112 percent despite sanctions.

This situation, however, is about to end. In about a month, in fact, on December 5, the embargo decided by the European Union against Russian oil will come into force and Moscow’s ships will no longer be able to dock in Italian ports. This is a problem that is not insignificant for Priolo’s employees, who could lose their jobs if the plant were forced to stop operations. In fact, about a thousand employees work within Isab, but the company indirectly employs at least twice as many people. A significant blow, not only on a human level, but also on an economic level, because if the plant stops, the entire pole, which is worth 8 percent of Sicily’s GDP, will be affected.

It will therefore be up to the two new ministers, that of Businesses, Adolfo Ursoand that for the South, Nello Musumeci, coordinate to avoid the collapse and the consequent backlash to the economy of southern Italy. Urso seems to be already taking charge of the issue through an initial provision that certifies that the company is not subject to sanctions. It is a first step, not a definitive one.