Italy’s biggest refinery in crisis three years after sale by Russia’s Lukoil

Italy’s largest refinery, which was sold by Moscow-based Lukoil after EU sanctions cut it off from Russian oil, is in crisis as the Greek billionaire who is now its majority investor and commodity giant Trafigura clash over the terms of a crude supply arrangement.

GOI Energy bought the ISAB plant in the Sicilian town of Priolo in 2023 with support from Trafigura in a last-minute deal that Franco-Israeli mining tycoon Beny Steinmetz helped arrange. The sale was approved by the Italian…