Monday 19 September, 10.30 am. A gentle breeze stirs the waves of the sea washing the beach of Milazzo, a town in northern Sicily founded by the ancient Greeks. From the highest point of the city, the castle observes the slow sailing of ships heading for the harbour. One of the big tankers displays a flag with the red-white cross of Malta and the name Tigani imprinted on the side. Although the EU-sponsored sanctions prohibiting member states from transporting crude oil from Russia by sea will come into force on 5 December, the Tigani is among the latest of at least 80 tankers carrying Russian crude oil to Sicily since the start of the war in Ukraine. 

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Credit: Lorenzo Buzzoni/Investigate Europe

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The 250-metre long Tigani set sail from Ust-Luga in the Gulf of Finland on 6 September. It is operated by TMS Tankers, owned by the Greek tycoon George Economou. Since the start of the invasion, ships linked to the 69-year-old shipping billionaire’s two companies have made 78 voyages on ships totalling 9.2 million deadweight tonnage (DWT) of capacity. After having sailed the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, the English Channel, and crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, the tanker, which has a 113,000 DWT capacity, is preparing to unload thousands of tonnes of Russian crude oil from the Urals to the Milazzo refinery (RAM). 

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Credit: Lorenzo Buzzoni/Investigate Europe

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The Milazzo refinery, 50-50 owned by the Italian state-owned oil company ENI and the Kuwaiti oil state-owned company Kuwait Petroleum, receives raw materials and produces products for various sectors, including gasoline, propylene, diesel, fuel oil, sulphur and naphtha. With an annual processing capacity of around 10 million tonnes of crude oil, the refinery sells its products in Italy and Europe, mainly in France and Spain. Although environmental groups have denounced the impact on Sicilian territory, the refinery, which employs more than 600 people, with its allied industries employing more than a thousand external workers, continues to represent a job opportunity for many in Milazzo. 

Along the 1,900 metres strip of beach on which part of the Milazzo refinery sits, a couple relaxes in their swimming costumes on the deserted shore among stone pebbles, scattered tufts of grass and plastic rubbish. The man, seated on a folding chair, casts his line as far as he can while waiting for a fish to take the bait. Sheltering under a small umbrella, the woman carefully observes the oil tankers moored at the refinery docks. All around, the continuous noise emitted by the pumps sucking in crude oil hammers the eardrums, while the stench of oil sticks to the pores of the skin, making the air unbreathable.  

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Credit: Lorenzo Buzzoni/Investigate Europe

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Away from Milazzo, most of the Russian crude oil imported into Italy lands 180km south in Priolo Gargallo, in Syracuse. Here, Isab, a refinery owned by Lukoil – Russia’s largest private oil company – produces 22.2% of the national crude oil total each year. According to internal documents seen to Investigate Europe, in the period between the beginning of the war in Ukraine and August, the ports of Augusta and Santa Panagia saw 56 oil tankers docked to deliver Russian crude oil to Isab. An increase of 622% compared to the same period of the previous year.

Credit: Lorenzo Buzzoni/Investigate Europe

And it is in part because of the Isab refinery that Italy’s imports of Russian oil have increased since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Italy was Europe’s second largest importer of fossil fuels between 24 February and 31 August, according to CREA data analysed by Investigate Europe. Among the vessels with 9 million DWT capacity that left for Italy, 7.47 million DWT was crude and other oil products. Under normal conditions, Isab only buys between 20% and 30% from Russia, but sanctions have changed this. Although Lukoil was not directly sanctioned, the world’s major banks stopped giving Isab credit to buy foreign crude oil, for fear of becoming involved in financial activities that could be sanctioned. Thus, Isab was forced to buy crude exclusively from Russia, the only state willing to give it credit. Lukoil did not responded to Investigate Europe’s questions by the time of publication.

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Credit: Lorenzo Buzzoni/Investigate Europe

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When the embargo will be triggered in the EU, if an alternative to Russian oil is not found, Isab will risk closure, and along with it, one of Europe’s largest petrochemical areas. An industrial area employing around 10,000 people and worth 51% of the Syracuse province’s GDP. The outgoing Italian minister of ecological transition, Roberto Cingolani, has spoken of the possibility of nationalising the refinery as was done in Germany, where the government took control of three refineries owned by the Russian oil company.

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Credit: Lorenzo Buzzoni/Investigate Europe

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In the meantime, in Milazzo, grey smoke billows upwards from its refinery. The chimneys spit flames, the tanks are full of crude oil. A swarm of workers empty the Tigani’s tanker, performing a choreography that is repeated several times a day, every day. The tanker starts the turbines, the propellers begin to turn. After two days of rest, the Tigani is headed for Ceyhan, Turkey, continuing to contribute to the vast network of European ships fuelling Putin’s war.