The Dutch energy and commodity trade The company also will not enter into any new Russian crude oil and product transactions, the source said.
Vitol declined to comment other than confirming the accuracy of an article published by Bloomberg, which previously reported the news.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia have all announced bans on Russian oil.
Big companies like Shell, TotalEnergies and Neste have also stopped buying Russian crude or have said they will by the end of 2022, and a broader de facto embargo has taken hold as banks, traders, shippers and insurance companies seek to impose a ban decline to avoid fouling western financial sanctions.
As Russian oil has become toxic to many buyers, its benchmark Ural crude has traded at an ever-widening discount in the global market. It’s now worth $34 a barrel less than Brent crude.
The International Energy Agency on Wednesday estimated that Russian oil stocks will fall by 1.5 million barrels a day in April and could fall by as much as 3 million barrels a day from May if buyers turn away.
“While some buyers, particularly in Asia, are stepping up buying deeply discounted Russian casks, traditional customers are cutting back,” the agency said. “At the moment there are no signs that larger volumes are going to China.”
Vitol sales nearly doubled to $279 billion last year as global demand for oil rebounded after economies reopened from their pandemic lockdowns. According to its website, the company traded 7.6 million barrels of crude oil and other oil products daily last year.
That’s more than Russia’s daily crude oil exports, which the IEA estimated at about 4.7 million barrels in 2021. About 2.4 million barrels per day went to Europe.
But there are signs that the European Union may abandon Russian oil. Last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc was considering an oil embargo as part of a new round of sanctions.
The cumulative impact of this widening embargo could be higher oil prices around the world as buyers scramble to replace supplies. Russia is the world’s second largest crude oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, accounting for 14% of global supply last year, according to the IEA.
The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, briefly rose above $139 a barrel in early March – a 14-year high – but has since fallen back to around $107. The coordinated release of 240 million barrels from the United States and IEA member countries could help drive down prices and offset a loss in Russian crude oil supplies.
— Chris Liakos contributed to this article.