“Black gold” without borders: Maltese Alkagesta figures in a global investigation of an oil smuggling cartel

10:29, 06.03.2025

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“Black gold” without borders: Maltese Alkagesta figures in a global investigation of an oil smuggling cartel

In 2022, while researching locally-based companies that might be violating sanctions, Alkagesta appeared on my list. The company, owned by Azerbaijanis, is a commodity trader headquartered in Malta, with operations in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and even Georgia.

Our investigation never found any irregularities. In 2022 they made around €2.1 billion in revenue and around €40 million in profit. One of their most actively traded products is oil which they actually sell from Malta in various ways, apart from currently leasing oil depot facilities in Delimara for oil bunkering.

Last year, Alkagesta was the subject of an independent Turkish investigation about oil smuggling. The investigation cited an invoice from a crude oil tanker called MT Tony which described a sale of oil that was loaded from Malta, specifically in “Out of Port Limits”, probably in Hurd’s Bank, with the oil originating from Turkmenistan. Details of the invoice, in Turkish, are pictured below. Hurd’s Bank is an area with ongoing and regular activity of oil smuggling. Nigeria has also bought record amounts of oil from oil traders in Hurd’s Bank and declared that it was purchases from Malta.

Alkagesta is not the only oil trader being accused of dealing in smuggled Libyan fuel. The Maltese oil traders Falzon & Falzon are also being accused of buying smuggled Libyan oil, which is then sold with fake certificates denoting the oil from Turkish origin. Fuel smuggling from Libya has been taking place ever since the Libyan Revolution in 2011, but Libyan fuel smuggling is now more concentrated in the East in the areas under control of General Khalifa Haftar.

We have never delved very deep into our investigation about Alkagesta, but official and international authorities tipped us off that Alkagesta is currently under investigation and we will try to keep updated with ongoing developments.