(Dan Tri) – By taking a detour, Russian oil was `laundered` and transferred to the Pentagon for use, according to an investigation by the Washington Post.

Tankers pumping cargo at the Aspropyrgos refinery, operated by Motor Oil Hellas, in Athens in 2015 (Photo: Bloomberg).

Before the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict, Greece’s Motor Oil Hellas refinery located on the Aegean Sea – a key supplier to the US military for many years – regularly received oil from Russia.

But according to a Washington Post investigation based on ship tracking data, Russian oil still arrived at Motor Oil Hella after detouring more than hundreds of miles to the Dortyol oil storage facility in Türkiye.

This route is said to have helped conceal the origin of petroleum products from Russia because they `changed hands many times before reaching Greece`.

The amount of fuel oil shipped from Dortyol to Motor Oil Hellas, along with the common industry practice of blending products of different origins, will ensure that the finished product contains a large amount of fuel from Russia, according to the sources.

`I find it impossible to come to any other conclusion than that Russian fuel went to Motor Oil Hellas,` said Robert Auers, refined fuel market analyst at research firm RBN Energy, confirming the finding.

Over the past two years, Dortyol has received 5.4 million barrels of oil by sea, of which 3.5 million barrels came from Russia, according to records and data from financial data firm Refinitiv.

Since EU sanctions took effect in February, the amount of Russian oil arriving at Dortyol totaled 2.7 million barrels, accounting for more than 69% of the fuel delivered here by sea.

Also since February, Dortyol has shipped 7 million barrels of fuel oil, of which 4.2 million barrels went to Motor Oil Hellas, accounting for at least 56% of the fuel oil that this Greek refinery received by sea.

The Russian oil route is integrated into the supply chain for the US military, according to the Washington Post (Graphic: Washington Post).

The fuel was no longer recorded as Russian in origin when it reached Greece, where it was refined and mixed into finished products supplied to the US military.

`It is not possible to determine the exact amount of Russian-origin fuel oil in the products the Pentagon purchased. Those products are refined with many ingredients, not all of which can be tracked during the process.`

Since the US embargo on Russian oil took effect in early March 2022, the Pentagon has signed new contracts worth nearly 1 billion USD with Motor Oil Hellas, the US newspaper reported, based on

Responding to the Washington Post, Joe Yoswa – spokesman for the Defense Logistics Agency of the Pentagon, the agency in charge of purchasing fuel for the US military – said that the agency was `not aware` of Russian fuel being used.

The agency said its contractors, including Motor Oil Hellas, `are responsible for ensuring enforcement of applicable laws and regulations related to doing business with Russia and Russian companies.`

The Pentagon has only limited ability to vet suppliers, Yoswa said.

Motor Oil Hellas insists it does not purchase, process or trade Russian oil or products and that all goods it receives are certified to be of non-sanctions origin.

Officials at Global Terminal Services, which owns Dortyol, said they are only `intermediaries` that store products and do not own what they store.

According to the provisions of the sanctions regime, Turkish facilities are allowed to receive Russian fuel.

US and EU authorities have repeatedly warned companies that certificates of origin can be faked.