Sanctions over the Ukraine war have led to the emergence of at least 40 middlemen, including "little-known companies" and those reportedly with no prior experience of handling Russian oil, that are handling Russian oil trading between March and June, according to a Reuters tally. These firms are said to have shipped at least half of Russia's overall crude and refined products exports of 6-8 million barrels per day. The new players have become some of the world's largest oil traders and have appeared since Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, according to the tally.