Nayara Energy: Top Executives Quit After EU Sanctions

New Delhi, Jul 29 (PTI) Three directors and two senior executives, including the head of Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE), have resigned from Russian energy giant Rosneft-backed oil refiner Nayara Energy after the company was sanctioned by the European Union, sources aware of the matter said.

Victoria Cunningham, Avril Mary Anne Conroy and Jorg Tumat, who were on the board of directors of Nayara Energy, have resigned earlier this month, the sources said.

Besides, Barbara (Hofbauer) Oberhauser, who was senior vice president and Head HSE, too has resigned.

The resignations follow chief executive Alessandro Des Dorides quitting the company shortly after the European Union imposed sanctions on Nayara as part of a new raft of measures against Russia over its war with Ukraine.

An email sent to the company seeking reactions remained unanswered.

Sources said that Des Dorides, along with the three directors who resigned, were all European - a nationality that made it untenable for them to remain with a company under EU sanctions.

Oberhauser was from Austria and served as HSE head at Nayara between November 2022 and July 2025.

Another official, who was practically No.2 on refinery operations side, too has resigned for the very same reason, sources said.

Nayara had earlier this week denounced the latest EU sanctions against it as unjust and harmful to India's interests, and said it was studying legal options.

Rosneft too had condemned sanctions on Nayara Energy as unjustified, illegal, and described them as a direct threat to India's energy security.

The European Union's 18th package of sanctions against Russia over its war with Ukraine was approved earlier this month with a view to weakening its revenue sources. Nayara Energy was one of the companies that was sanctioned.

Rosneft owns a 49.13 per cent stake in Nayara Energy Ltd, formerly Essar Oil Ltd. Nayara owns and operates a 20-million tonnes a year oil refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat, as well as over 6,750 petrol pumps.

Besides Rosneft, an investment consortium SPV, Kesani Enterprises Company, holds another 49.13 per cent stake in Nayara. Kesani is owned by Russia's United Capital Partners (UCP) and Hara Capital Sarl, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mareterra Group Holding (formerly Genera Group Holding S.p.A.).

Sources said Cunningham, who has been on the board of Nayara since January 2020, was co-managing partner of UCP. Tumat, who has been on the board of Nayara since July 21, 2023, came from Germany.

Conroy had been on the board of Nayara since May 23, 2020.

Nayara has replaced Des Dorides with Sergey Denisov as the new CEO of the company, they said.

Des Dorides had joined Nayara Energy in April 2024. He was previously the head of oil trading at Eni where he was sacked for withholding information on illegal Iran oil trade.

Denisov, who has been with Nayara since 2017, previously was its chief development officer.