Turkey Halved Its Purchases of Russian Oil in August.

Turkey Reduced Its Imports of Russian Oil Amid Repairs at the STAR Refinery

Turkey, which is the third largest importer of Russian oil, halved its purchases due to repairs at the STAR refinery near Izmir, notes market analysis company Kpler.

In August, the volume of imports decreased to less than 200,000 barrels per day from 400,000-450,000 barrels at the beginning of the summer.

The repair of the plant, which processes about 45% of all Russian oil supplied to the Turkish market, began on September 5 and will last approximately two months. This is a planned event driven by expected production halts, explains Kpler analyst Viktor Katona.

STAR is managed by Azerbaijani company SOCAR and has become the largest private investment in Turkey's energy sector. This plant, with an annual capacity of about 200,000 barrels per day (or 12 million tons of oil per year), meets about 20% of the country's demand for petroleum products. It was planned to increase its capacity to 13 million tons by 2024.

The main types of oil for STAR are heavy, including Azerbaijani Azeri Light, Iraqi Kerkuk, and Russian Urals. To date, the main supplier of raw materials for the plant is "Lukoil," informed Reuters in August.

According to Kpler, in June, oil supplies from Russia to the Turkish port of "Aliaga," where STAR is located, amounted to just under 300,000 barrels per day, and in August, they decreased to 100,000 barrels per day.

Experts point out that the situation is not critical for Russian suppliers, but it is not entirely comfortable given the limited sales regions. "Russia’s dependence on the Asian market is currently the highest in history, and there are practically no buyers in Europe, except for Turkey's Tupras," notes an analyst.

Additionally, this slightly impacted the price of Russian Urals oil, the discount for which in India increased on average to around $4 per barrel compared to $3.

Source: enkorr