A oil refinery in Moscow, Russia, 4 April 2022. Photo: EPA / Maxim Shipenkov
Turkish oil refineries have begun cutting back on imports of Russian crude oil in response to last week’s announcement by the United States that it was imposing sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Reuters reported on Sunday.
One of Türkiye’s largest refineries, owned by Azerbaijan’s SOCAR, has signed contracts for oil shipments from Iraq, Kazakhstan, and other countries, according to the Reuters report, while the Tüpraş İzmit oil refinery, another major Turkish facility, has increased its purchases of non-Russian oil grades similar in quality to Russia’s Urals blend, particularly from Iraq.
Sources told Reuters that Tüpraş may soon completely halt imports of Russian oil to one of its two plants in order to maintain its fuel exports to Europe. However, Russian oil processing is likely to continue at the other facility.
Turkey’s dependency on Russian energy exports has increased since 2022, with German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reporting that in 2024, 66% of the country’s oil imports came from Russia. In September, at a meeting in the Oval Office, President Trump urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to stop buying Russian oil, stating that he would be ready to sell F-35 jets to Ankara if he agreed.
At the end of October, new US sanctions targeted Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil, a move that quickly impacted some crucial Russian export markets, with independent Russian media outlet The Bell reporting that multiple refineries in India temporarily stopped importing Russian oil in response to the move.
