Americans still using Russian oil and gas despite sanctions: Ukraine chief economic advisor

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, says Iran and other countries have made efforts to skirt sanctions "for quite some time," so it's "possible" US oil companies are "unknowingly" buying Russian oil, though he believes it's "probably not a major amount.".

"Rogue actors with Russia or intermediates could stand to profit significantly by taking that discounted Russian oil and mixing it with legitimate oil, falsifying records and then sending it to the US," De Haan says.

By buying Russian oil at a discount, misrepresenting it as non-sanctioned oil, and selling it at the market rate, these "nefarious actors" can rake in profits, De Haan said. .

Given the seriousness of the US sanctions, De Haan believes US oil companies would "stay as far away from that Russian oil as possible," and that any imports of it would likely be unbeknownst to them.

While De Hann says Russian actors could be involved in this practice, he believes it's the middlemen that are more likely to take this risk — and be able to pull it off without attracting much notice. .

De Haan, however, believes the fact that Russian oil continues to be significantly discounted provides evidence that sanctions are making an impact, and that Russian oil isn't skirting import restrictions at any significant scale

That means keeping Russian fossil fuels in the ground and turning phantom energy sanctions into real ones."