After Russia launched its full-scale conflict of Ukraine, the European Union and the U.S. introduced a tough oil embargo, believing they had severed a major source of the Kremlin’s funding.
However, three years later, a massive shadow network continues to steadily supply Russian oil and petroleum products to European markets.
As romaniatv.net reports, at the center of the international scandal is the Black Sea coast in Romania. The Port of Constanța and the state company Oil Terminal, through which petroleum products are imported, have become the "ground zero" of Russian oil trading schemes. This has brought colossal profits to tax evasion networks but placed Romania in an unprecedented situation, threatening national security: the Port of Constanța may be blacklisted internationally for oil trade with Russia.
The Alkagesta Scheme
The Cutia Neagră investigation began in 2022, when the Maltese company Alkagesta Ltd, a formally anonymous structure, signed service and storage contracts for petroleum products with Romania’s strategic company Oil Terminal Constanța. Alkagesta was used by the Azerbaijani state company SOCAR as a front to trade Russian petroleum products.
The origin of the products was supposed to be verified by the Northern Customs Authority of Constanța, but for three years, they did not require laboratory analyses. This allowed the import of tens of thousands of tons of Russian straight run gasoil and diesel into the EU under the guise of being "Azerbaijani," "Turkmen," or "Uzbek."
Once in the EU, these products were either re-exported to Ukraine by barge, train, and tanker truck or integrated into the Rompetrol production chain through the Midia terminal, where they were documented as "Kazakh" or "Romanian." Some went to Romanian companies associated with tax evasion, including Denisrom warehouses in Cluj and Jetfly Hub in Ploiești.
Alkagesta, controlled by SOCAR, used Russian oil purchased at dumping prices, allowing for aggressive competition. The distribution network employed offshore companies and firms with suspicious tax behavior to launder money and fund criminal structures.
The company also supplied petroleum products to Rompetrol KazMunayGas, despite Rompetrol having its own resources in Kazakhstan. Purchases were conducted through complex document flows, allowing for manipulation of prices and commissions.
The ’Brain’ of the Scheme — Adnan Ahmаdzadе
On September 20, 2025, under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, the Azerbaijani authorities arrested Adnan Ahmаdzadе — a businessman with dual British-Azerbaijani citizenship and former director of SOCAR. He was accused of coordinating the entire Alkagesta network. The formal head of the company was his relative Kamran Agaev, but according to the investigation, it was Ahmаdzadе who was the "brain of the operation" for the supply of Russian oil to Europe with fake documents.
Meanwhile, the EU and UK authorities are investigating Alkagesta’s activities as the largest bunkering operator in Malta, also suspecting connections to smuggling Libyan oil.
Romania’s Reaction — Zero
In Romania, there is silence. The Prosecutor’s Office, Ministry of Interior, ANAF, Customs Service, and Ministry of Energy did not react to the scandal. Sources in the Ministry of Finance told Cutia Neagră that at the highest level it is known that Romanian customs officers have been accepting certificates of origin for years without cross-checks and lab tests.
What is even more alarming is that Romanian authorities knew about the smuggling and presumably kept quiet to avoid an international scandal. In August of this year, a critical incident occurred at the OMV Petrobrazi refinery when it halted operations due to supplies of crude oil contaminated with organic chlorides — a typical marker of Russian oil. Alkagesta was the supplier. The Ministry of Energy declared an emergency and used strategic reserves to restart the plant. This incident was also kept from the public.
