Work continues to close loophole letting Russian oil be refined abroad and enter NZ

Sunday, 22 February 2026

It is understood the Government hopes to follow Britain and the EU by moving to ban imports of petrol and other fuels that have been refined from Russian crude.

However, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has indicated he was not yet in a position to say when or exactly how the change might be made.

“Officials are considering options carefully,” he said.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign and Affairs Trade (Mfat) made clear the impact of the sanctions regime on fuel buyers remained front of mind.

“While sanctions are intended to have a negative impact on those sanctioned, we are mindful of ensuring they don’t have a disproportionate impact on New Zealanders and their businesses, including access to fuel,” the official said.

Read More:

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The Russian Sanctions Act, which was passed by Parliament a month after Russia’s full-scale, illegal invasion of Ukraine, prohibits directly or indirectly importing “a coal, oil or gas product of Russian origin into New Zealand”.

But it emerged late last year that Mfat had issued a little-known guidance note in October 2022 that interpreted the law change as allowing New Zealand’s five bulk fuel importers to continue to import products derived from Russian oil, so long as they were refined outside of Russia.

The guidance attracted attention after One News reported Z Energy had imported an estimated $100 million worth of fuel that had been refined in India from Russian crude between December 2024 and April last year. It is understood those shipments were ordered by Z’s Australian owner Ampol.

The other importers of bulk fuel into New Zealand are BP, Gull, Mobil and Timaru Oil Services.

Emails between Mfat and the fuel importers released to The Post under the Official Information Act indicate ministry officials were most animated by the prospect of rising fuel prices when they were preparing advice to the former government in 2022 on how the sanctions should be implemented.

Gull warned Mfat that given a lot of fuel was blended at foreign ports, “knowing what molecule came from where” would be problematic and the sanctions were likely to lead to higher prices for “the additional specification”.

In response, an Mfat official wrote to another: “Bummer about the last point — is that worth letting the Ministers know?”.

It is understood the former government assumed fuel importers would use their best endeavours not to import products derived from Russian oil — even if the rules did not require that.

Like New Zealand, Britain and the EU banned imports of unrefined Russian oil in 2022.

The EU tightened its sanctions last month by also banning imports of fuel refined from Russian oil.

The British government announced in October that it would follow suit, though its more comprehensive ban has yet to come into effect.

Peters said last month that he believed Kiwi motorists did have a right to know whether the fuel they bought was likely to have been derived from Russian oil.

Z Energy, BP, Gull, Mobil and Timaru Oil Services have so far declined to say whether they agree.