2Rivers is recorded in this encyclopedia from the source named below.
Overview
2Rivers, formerly Coral Energy, is a Dubai-based oil trading company engaged in the sale and export of Russian crude oil and petroleum products. Since 17 December 2024, the company has been under United Kingdom sanctions. 2Rivers was founded by Azerbaijani citizen Tahir Gadir oghlu Garayev (Tahir Garayev) in 2010. 2Rivers, according to journalistic investigations, has a close relationship with Igor Sechin and Rosneft. Since 2022, 2Rivers has quietly grown to become the largest trader circumventing Western sanctions on Russian crude and petroleum exports, mainly from Rosneft. 2Rivers operates through a web of companies that appear to be unaffiliated, but are controlled by the 2Rivers’ executive team. This includes dozens of trading companies established in the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre freezone of the UAE, as well as ship management and operations companies. Prior to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, 2Rivers, at that time Coral Energy, was based in Geneva. After the invasion, 2Rivers moved its headquarters to Dubai and has offices in Singapore and Geneva. The company announced that it closed its Moscow office in 2022, however, investigations concluded that the company continues to manage an office there under a different name. A report from The Wall Street Journal in early 2024 reported that Coral Energy controls at least 100 vessels through seemingly unaffiliated shell companies. These include Gatik Ship Management, Gaurik Ship Management, and Buena Vista Shipping. At least five of these vessels have been sanctioned by the UK and EU. These vessels continue to carry crude and petroleum products purchased by 2Rivers trading companies in violation of Western sanctions. On 17 December 2024, the United Kingdom added 2Rivers to the list of sanctioned companies. This decision prohibits anyone in the UK, as well as UK companies and individuals abroad, from moving its funds or dealing in its property and other assets.
Source and reuse
The descriptive text above is drawn from the English-language encyclopedia article 2Rivers, reused under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence and attributed in the sources block on this page. Figures in the infobox come from Wikidata and carry that project's own provenance; they should be checked against the cited source before being relied on.
Editorial note
This record is a sourced summary, not original research. Where the underlying material is silent on a point, this article is silent too. Last reviewed 2026-09-23.