Turkey Doubles Down on Cuts to Russian Urals Oil Imports

In November, Turkey significantly reduced its purchases of Russian Urals oil, with daily supplies dropping to around 200,000 barrels, which is nearly 100,000 barrels less than the previous month, according to Reuters.

As reported by the agency, Turkey, which became one of the largest buyers of Russian oil after exiting the European market in 2022—trailing only India—has this time made significant cuts to its Urals imports.

Experts attribute the main reason for this change to the sanctions imposed by the United States on "Lukoil" and "Rosneft," as well as the upcoming EU ban on the purchase of fuels derived from Russian oil. Under the influence of these factors, Ankara has started to actively replace Russian oil with other types, particularly Kazakh CPC Blend and Iraqi Basrah.

At the same time, Reuters notes that replacing Urals will not be easy for Turkey’s oil refineries, as the supply of equivalent types of oil is limited, and the supplies of CPC Blend may be unstable, especially considering the recent attack on the terminal belonging to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.