The largest oil refineries in Turkey are reducing supplies of Russian oil in response to the latest Western sanctions against Russia, reported Reuters, citing several industry sources.
One of Turkey's largest refineries, STAR, owned by the Azerbaijani company SOCAR, recently purchased four batches of oil from Iraq, Kazakhstan, and other countries for delivery in December. According to Kpler, in October and September, Russian oil accounted for almost the entire volume of oil received at the STAR refinery, which amounted to about 210,000 barrels per day.
Another major Turkish oil refining company — Tupras — is increasing purchases of Iraqi oil. One of the company's two refineries will soon completely abandon the import of Russian oil to maintain fuel exports to Europe and not violate upcoming EU sanctions, agency sources said.
Turkey is one of the largest buyers of Russian oil alongside China and India. According to Kpler, from January to October, Turkey imported about 669,000 barrels of crude oil per day, of which 317,000 barrels (47%) were Russian.