Türkiye Cuts Russian Oil Imports by 31% Amid G7 Sanctions

Due to sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia’s energy companies, Turkish refineries have significantly reduced their purchases of Russian oil, as reported by Bloomberg on March 18. The US sanctions target Russia’s largest oil companies, including Gazprom Neft.

According to Bloomberg, citing data from analytics firm Vortexa Ltd, Turkish refineries are now buying at least 31% less Russian oil compared to last year.

In March, Türkiye imported approximately 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day, with only 19% of this coming from Russia. In comparison, over 50% of Türkiye’s crude oil imports were from Russia last year.

Türkiye is now seeking new suppliers. Notably, Turkish oil refiner Turkiye Petrol Rafinerileri AS (Tupras) recently purchased a batch of medium-sweet crude  from Brazil, which is currently being transported by the tanker Joao Candido. According to the Turkish government, this marks the first recorded purchase of Brazilian crude oil since 2007.

Since the end of February, Tupras plans to halt purchases of Russian oil that does not meet the price cap set by the G7 countries. The company also announced it has ceased buying Russian Urals crude oil.

Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, sold Turkey 950,000 barrels of low-sulfur Itapu oil (0.25%) for delivery in early April.

Another Turkish refinery is owned by Azerbaijan’s state energy company Socar, which accounted for 29% of Türkiye’s oil imports last year. However, it is unclear what portion of this oil came from Russia. Socar has not responded to requests for comment.

Previously, it was reported that Chinese state-owned oil companies are scaling back or halting Russian crude imports due to newly tightened US sanctions, according to Reuters on March 14.