Turkey has more than doubled its Russian oil imports this year. Imports so far have averaged more than 200,000 barrels a day, up from 98,000 in the same period last year, according to data from financial services provider Refinitiv on Monday.
Despite the war against Ukraine, Turkey has yet to sanction Russia, arguing that it is dependent on Russian energy supplies. In early August, President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan also agreed to increase economic cooperation.
According to the data, the most important Turkish refineries processed significantly more Russian oil of the Ural and Siberian Light varieties. At the same time, purchases of North Sea, Iraqi and West African grades of oil declined. Russian oil is currently much cheaper than that of the North Sea or Iraq. “Turkish refiners’ decision was obvious as they have no restrictions on buying Russian oil,” a trader says. Profit margins are good. Neither the Turkish Ministry of Energy nor the refiners would comment on the data when requested.
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Data released by Beijing Customs last week show that China has also been importing more coal and oil from Russia. Russia has been China’s top oil supplier for three consecutive months. In July, Russian oil imports totaled around 7.15 million tonnes, up 7.6% from a year earlier. Chinese coal imports from Russia have reached their highest level in more than five years. Beijing imported 7.42 million tonnes of coal from Russia in July – about 14% more than last year.
While the European Union has wanted to greatly reduce its energy dependence on Moscow since Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the People’s Republic of China is using Russia’s lower raw material prices to boost imports. As before, the leadership in Beijing did not condemn the war in Ukraine, but, on the contrary, further reaffirmed its loyalty to Moscow.