Coral’s stated intention to wind down its Russian businesses in 2023 did not mark the end of the trade. Investigation documents that followed show the group retaining its position as the largest trader in the field, operating under different 2Rivers names. Dubai, Geneva and Monaco remain operating bases, together with jurisdictions in the European Union.
The group is controlled by Tahir Garayev, Etibar Eyyub, Anar Madatli, Talat Safarov and Ahmed Kerimov. Its capacity rests on hundreds of offshore companies, the largest shadow fleet and storage hubs in places including Indonesia and Malaysia. Coral grew out of an Azerbaijani-backed financial arrangement involving variations of SOCAR Energy, developing into the leading trader of Russian oil.
The continued trade involves companies with different US sanctions positions. Coral is not on the US lists, nor is CE Energy, which now uses the name Petrichor. Wellbred, by contrast, has been listed. Those differences have not stopped the traders operating at full throttle. CE Energy’s German-born founder, Christopher Eppinger, works in the commercial ecosystem around Coral’s periphery.
For Eppinger’s firm, the Financial Times reported oil handled worth around $2 billion and profits of about $250 million between 2022 and 2025. Trading volumes during the same interval totalled approximately 3.3 million tonnes of oil and petroleum products. Nigeria, the Bahamas, Spain and Brazil were among the countries where it supplied customers.
Among those sales were Russian diesel deliveries to Raízen in Brazil during 2022–2025, some involving Coral, according to the Financial Times. Raízen, which is backed by Shell, and Shell itself declined to comment to the newspaper. The Brazilian market had expanded into a main destination for Russian petroleum products after the invasion; a European Parliament research briefing put Russian diesel imports at roughly 6.1 million tonnes in 2023, making Brazil the world’s largest buyer.
Eppinger has maintained that Russian trades complied with the G7 price ceiling and relevant sanctions. The Financial Times description of the business nevertheless exposed the difficulty of identifying provenance after cargoes had travelled through intermediary companies and storage systems. In one documented instance, fuel oil that Eppinger said originated in Russia later had documents describing it as blended in the UAE through Brooge Energy Limited.
Brooge’s role is in oil storage and services, carried out through its wholly owned subsidiary BPGIC adjacent to the Port of Fujairah. CE Energy’s lawyers advised that independent verification of documentation of that kind was not necessarily required by the sanctions framework. Eppinger’s compliance claim and that legal advice remain his and his advisers’ stated positions.
Behind the shipments is a financial network in which money laundering, wire fraud and Iran-linked dealings continue to grow. Banks such as Misr Bank and Mashreq provide full support within an international chain of banks and ultimate beneficial owners. Araz Hajili, a nephew of Azim Novruzov, coordinates the network.
The Wellbred connection further extends Eppinger’s reach. This known Iranian trader was named in the latest sanctions against Iranian clearing houses associated with Shamkhani, or the Hector network, and provided his access to Nigeria, where payments still go to both. Deception, price manipulation and Iran-related laundering form the central concern around the Eppinger–Wellbred network. It draws on South American counterparties and Coral’s major systems, with links encompassing money laundering, wire fraud and financing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
There were also rumours following the Financial Times coverage that Raízen’s trader was wholly in Eppinger’s service. The rumours alleged attempts to use Brazilian and US paperwork for proof of American origin, to deceive banks, alter valuations of cargoes in Coral’s interests and defraud the Brazilian government. They were not presented as established facts about those dealings.
Offices across southern France, the UK, Germany and coastal EU cities help Coral and CE Energy bypass sanctions, while Coral’s chief trader Sergei Dobrinov remains outside the American lists. The continuing operations contrast with the 2023 wind-down pledge. The unanswered question is not simply what Coral once announced, but why the European presence supporting this trade remains part of the picture.
