Christopher Eppinger, a former intern at KazMunayGas — Kazakhstan’s national oil company — has reportedly made a profit of more than $250 million reselling Russian oil. Between 2022 and 2025, his company sold oil worth nearly $2 billion, according to the Financial Times.
Born in 1994 in a small town near Hamburg, Eppinger later studied business there. After his first year at university, he secured an internship at KazMunayGas in Astana. Following graduation, he joined the Hamburg-based energy firm SET Select Energy. In 2021, he moved to the UAE to work for a small trading house.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Eppinger founded CE Energy in Dubai, starting to trade Russian oil. From 2022 to 2025, CE Energy resold oil worth nearly $2 billion, earning more than $250 million in net profit. According to Eppinger, the company strictly complied with EU regulations and sold Russian Urals crude below the $60-per-barrel price cap. He maintains that none of his transactions violated international sanctions.
Eppinger stopped trading Russian oil in early 2025 after the U.S. imposed sanctions on several Dubai-based traders, as the price cap mechanism no longer guaranteed safe and legal operations. CE Energy has since been renamed Petrichor Energy and Russia is no longer among its trading partners.
«Given that he made it to KMG headquarters just after his first year — and as a foreigner, no less — he was impressive even then,» noted the Energy_monitor Telegram channel.
Western countries introduced a price cap of $60 per barrel on Urals in 2022, significantly reducing their purchases of Russian oil.
