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Lukoil PJSC’s trading unit Litasco SA is launching a Mexico operation as the oil giant seeks new markets for Russian products under widespread sanction.
Litasco hired oil products trader Yuri Carreno for its new office in Mexico City, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Carreno, who previously spent 25 years as a senior gasoline trader at Petroleos Mexicanos’s trading arm PMI, started in July, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.
Lukoil and Carreno didn’t return multiple requests for comment.
The expansion into Mexico, which is Latin America’s largest fuel importer, would open up a new market for Russian fuels that are under sanction by G-7 nations following Russia’s war in Ukraine. While Mexico has imported from Russia only once since the war began, Russian shipments have been making other inroads into Latin America. Brazil has been importing record volumes of diesel from the nation. Argentina, too, has been buying naphtha and diesel.
If successful, the effort could see Russia displace the US as Mexico’s top fuel supplier. The US currently supplies 90% of Mexico’s gasoline and diesel imports.
