Why Is Niels Troost Sanctioned?
SUMMARY
As Russia readied to invade Ukraine in February 2022, most businesses, investors, and traders began eyeing the exits. They knew fully well that sanctions against Moscow and economic uncertainty would soon follow. One European trader, though, steeped in the opaque and often untamed world of oil trading, stayed put and sought to significantly expand his market share amid the exodus.
That oil trader was Niels Troost, a Dutch national and Swiss resident with decades of experience trading Russian oil. Troost leveraged his complex network of entities and contacts to perpetrate the unfettered trade of Russian oil to deliver oil to its clients in India and China -- including China Oil (Hong Kong) Corporation Limited, China National Offshore Oil Corporation Trading (Singapore) (CNOOC Singapore) and Qingdao New Refine Oil Trading Co. LTD -- often circumventing or directly violating sanctions in the process. Troost’s bold moves bolstered Russia’s war-weakened economy as it relentlessly battered Ukraine and threatened European security more broadly.
More than three years on, Troost’s misdeeds have led to his or his affiliated entities being sanctioned by the European Union (EU), Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (UK). His assets have also been frozen in Monaco. Troost’s actions since February 2022 provided these sanctions authorities plentiful evidence on which to base their decisions.
What follows is an in-depth examination of open-source reporting, first-hand accounts, and analysis of documentary evidence which further contextualize Troost’s sanctionable activity.
In brief, the website details:
THE SHIFT
As Russia moved troops to its border with Ukraine in 2022, Troost began shifting his trading activities from his Switzerland-based entity Paramount Energy & Commodities SA to its United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based subsidiary Paramount Energy & Commodities DMCC. With the threat of Russian aggression palpable in the days before the 24 February 2022 invasion, Western countries were quick to apply wide-ranging sanctions against Russian individuals and entities. Once the invasion commenced, many more countries followed suit. Troost deftly judged that the UAE was unlikely to participate in sanctions against Russia, and thus Dubai became a secure new home for his oil empire – and a base from which he could attempt to circumvent Western sanctions.
THE EXPANSION
But Troost not only shifted his business to the UAE, he expanded it at this personal direction. In the months following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Paramount SA became the 4th biggest buyer of Russian crude. When other oil giants like Glencore, Litasco, Trifigura, and Vitol fled from the Russian market, Paramount DMCC stepped in to fill the void and in 2022 the firm traded approximately $5 billion in Russian oil. According to a review of the Paramount DMCC ledger and open-source reporting, the firm was delivering at least 9-10 vessels of Russian oil each month, a significant increase from the 4-5 vessels its Swiss parent company was handling monthly as of 2019.
In addition, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Troost leveraged his company Harvest Commodities SA to ship over 90 shipments of Russian Grain, some of which transited through Iran, shipments that may have been used to obfuscate the trade of Russian oil. Troost indirectly has an interested in an Iranian company called Harvest Pars Khavarmianeh Company.
THE VIOLATIONS
Paramount DMCC traded Russian oil above the price cap and used vessels which carried Western insurance coverage, a clear violation of the EU price cap sanction. First-hand accounts show Troost controlled Paramount DMCC from Switzerland, despite his claims to have no affiliation with the company.
A review of Paramount DMCC’s ledger reveals the firm transacted with numerous sanctioned entities and was the near-exclusive buyer of oil from Demex Trading Limited DMCC, a major private purchaser of Russian oil for which the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned it in January 2025. Further still, Paramount DMCC relied almost exclusively on Livna Shipping Ltd., an ambiguous entity historically linked to Troost and in which he likely retains at least some ownership interest, for logistics and vessel chartering. Livna Shipping is on record using vessels that are associated with Russia’s ghost fleet.
THE SANCTIONS
Niels Troost is sanctioned by the European Union, Switzerland, and United Kingdom, together with known associates, for facilitating “the unfettered trade of Russian oil outside the reach of UK and G7 sanctions.”[1]
By February 2022, following acts of Russian aggression towards Ukraine and international threats to impose crippling sanctions on Russia,[2] Troost put his scheme in to play to protect his Russian oil business using a Dubai-based subsidiary — Paramount Energy and Commodities DMCC ("Paramount DMCC").[3] This business would grow substantially over the subsequent months.
On 8 November 2023, the U.K. sanctioned Troost’s Paramount DMCC and its director, known Troost associate Francois Mauron,[4] for being an “involved person” under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 “because it [was] obtaining a benefit or supporting the Government of Russia by carrying on business in a sector of strategic significance to the Government of Russia, namely the Russian energy sector.”[5]
On 22 February 2024, the UK sanctioned Troost and his company, Paramount Energy & Commodities SA (“Paramount SA”), because “Troost facilitates the unfettered trade of Russian oil outside the reach of UK and G7 sanctions, including through UAE-based Paramount Energy & Commodities DMCC, which the UK designated in November 2023.”[6]
On 16 December 2024, the European Union sanctioned Troost along with several associated entities -- Paramount SA, Paramount DMCC, Livna Shipping, BAP LTD and Cesco Holding SA: “In June 2022, Paramount DMCC took over and continued without interruption [Paramount SA] 's oil business vis-a-vis Russia, underlining close and direct operational and strategic control of [Paramount SA] over its subsidiary, Paramount DMCC. Paramount DMCC repeatedly traded Russian crude oil above the price cap after its introduction. Moreover, Niels Troost is affiliated with Livna Shipping Ltd, which has been trading crude oil above the oil price cap after its introduction.” In the list of the European Union, the name of Maurice Taylor also appears as ”associated individual” of Niels Troost.[7]
On 23 December 2024, Switzerland sanctioned Troost as part of its 15th sanctions package, in accordance with the EU designation.[8]
On 10 January 2025, the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Paramount’s primary supplier Demex Trading Limited DMCC for “[buying] over 700 shipments of crude oil and diesel fuel from Russia worth at least $8 billion in 2023”[9]
An independent assessment of the information available in the open source and based on internal Paramount SA and DMCC documents reveals that Troost’s sanctioning is grounded in indisputable evidence of Troost, and his entities, having facilitated the unfettered trade of Russian oil from the moment Russia invaded Ukraine and that Troost, a Dutch national, did so by personally directing the trading activities of Paramount DMCC from his home in Switzerland.
Additional research should be focused on (see other sections for context):
UAE-based Demex Trading Limited DMCC was sanctioned by OFAC for having “bought over 700 shipments of crude oil and diesel fuel from Russia worth at least $8 billion in 2023.”
Who booked these shipments?
Was Paramount DMCC involved?
Was Livna Shipping involved?
Additional research should be focused on whether Livna (and if not, what other counterparty to Altoprae) is listed as agents for any of these vessels in 2023 or 2024 to determine whether Livna maintains a relationship with Sovcomflot ships or any other ships associated with the ghost fleet.
According to African Intelligence, Demex Trading Ltd has over the past two years established itself as one of the main suppliers of Russian petroleum products to Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Benin. One of the key purchasers of its product is Elton Oil, a suspected Troost associated entity through Maurice Taylor and Troost’s entity Elson SA.
More details into the trading history of Harvest Pars Khavarmianeh Company and Harvest commodities SA/Harvest Group SA activities in Iran.
[1] New UK Sanctions Mark 2 Years Since Russia’s Illegal Invasion of Ukraine, U.K. Foreign Office, 22 Feb. 2024, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-uk-sanctions-mark-two-years-since-russias-illegal-invasion-of-ukraine. See also Niels Troost, OpenSanctions, https://www.opensanctions.org/entities/Q126734086/ (last updated Feb. 25, 2025)
[2] Greetings, Mr. President: Biden and Putin Hold 2-Hour Virtual Summit, NYTimes, 7 Dec. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/07/us/politics/biden-putin-ukraine-summit.html.
[3] Switzerland Questions Oil Trader over Sidestep of Russian Sanctions, FT, 4 July 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/ddbd705a-3744-45ef-a154-27d7f7be7e7f.
[4] Francois Mauron was later removed from the U.K. Sanctions List on February 26, 2025. See Financial Sanctions Notice – Russia, U.K. Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, 26 Feb. 2025, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67bf0a3016dc9038974dbb7f/Notice_Russia_260225.pdf.
[5] Paramount Energy & Commodities DMCC, U.K. Sanctions List, 8 Nov. 2023, https://search-uk-sanctions-list.service.gov.uk/designations/RUS1980/Entity; UK Cracks Down on Gold and Oil Networks Propping up Russia’s War Economy, U.K. Foreign Office & National Crime Agency, 8 Nov. 2023, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-cracks-down-on-gold-and-oil-networks-propping-up-russias-war-economy.
[6] New UK Sanctions Mark 2 Years Since Russia’s Illegal Invasion of Ukraine, U.K. Foreign Office, 22 Feb. 2024, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-uk-sanctions-mark-two-years-since-russias-illegal-invasion-of-ukraine.
[7] Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/3183, Off. J. E.U., 16 Dec. 2024, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=OJ:L_202403183.
[8] Situation in der Ukraine Delta 2024-12-20, State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), 20 Dec. 2024, https://www.seco.admin.ch/dam/seco/de/dokumente/Aussenwirtschaft/Wirtschaftsbeziehungen/Exportkontrollen/Sanktionen/Verordnungen/Russland,%20Ukraine/situation_in_der_ukraine_delta_2024-12-24.pdf.download.pdf/Situation%20in%20der%20Ukraine%20Delta%202024-12-20.pdf.
[9] https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2777