Energy & Climate
Energy giants & Russian gas
Sanctioned nuclear icebreakers help deliver Russian gas to Shell, investigation reveals.
15 February 2025
Russian fertiliser companies gained an estimated £500m in additional revenues during the first three months of the US-Israel-Iran war as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz sent global prices soaring, an investigation by Greenpeace Unearthed has found.
Russia is already the world’s leading nitrogen fertiliser exporter, but analysis of official trade data by Unearthed confirmed that Russian companies earned an estimated additional £5m a day from urea between March and May this year. This was during Iran’s initial blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
The strait normally handles a third of global seaborne fertiliser trade and 20% of natural gas shipments, needed to make nitrogen fertilisers such as urea. It is the key export route for major producers in the Gulf.
Russia’s Baltic export routes are largely unaffected by the closure of the strait, allowing its producers to cash in as the price of urea – the world’s most widely used nitrogen fertiliser – almost doubled between late February and late April.
While Russia’s energy sector and many other parts of its economy have been subjected to price caps and sanctions since the Kremlin invaded Ukraine in 2022, fertiliser exports have continued.
The UK imported around 33,900 tonnes of Russian urea between March and May, generating an estimated £8 million in additional revenues. The EU’s imports generated around £11.5m.
European governments have aimed to reduce their farmers’ reliance on Russian and Belarussian fertiliser by introducing tariffs. Last year the EU introduced staged tariffs, rising every year until 2028, in a bid to reduce dependence on Russian and Belarussian fertiliser.
The UK, whose initial 2022 tariffs had levied 35% on Russian fertiliser but excluded nitrogen products such as urea, closed that gap in July 2025.
Almost half of the estimated windfall came from the United States. US imports of Russian urea reached record levels during the early months of the conflict, generating an estimated £226 million in additional revenues for Russian producers.
The price shock has also intensified fears over global food security and rising food prices. The United Nations has warned that rising fuel, fertiliser and food costs could push millions more people into hunger, with African countries likely to be hit hardest.
Nitrogen fertilisers remain central to global food production, but campaigners say farming must become less dependent on them through nature-friendly farming measures including cover crops, crop rotations, nitrogen-fixing plants and more efficient nutrient use.
‘This crisis shows how dangerously exposed our food system is to war, volatile gas prices and fossil fuel-based fertilisers. Farmers are already battling extreme weather caused by climate change. This summer’s extreme heat and drought have damaged harvests, and now global conflict is driving up farm costs too.
‘To make farming more resilient to future shocks, strengthen the UK’s long-term food security and allow wildlife to recover, the UK government needs to provide proper funding and support for farmers to reduce fertiliser and pesticide use over time and shift to nature-friendly farming.’
ELENA POLISANO
Co-head of Biodiversity campaigns at Greenpeace UK
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