Türkiye halts all crude oil imports from Russia amid shifting trade patterns

Last month, Türkiye reduced its diesel purchases from Russia and, last week, completely stopped its crude oil imports.

Africa takes the lead in diesel imports

Türkiye, traditionally the largest buyer of Russian diesel, relinquished this position to African countries last month.

According to a report by the RBC news organization, citing data from the Center for Price Indices, diesel shipments to Turkish ports decreased by 19% on a monthly basis and 40% on an annual basis, falling to 762,000 tons.

During the same period, shipments to African countries increased by 21%, reaching 938,000 tons.

Crude oil shipments dropped to zero last week

Türkiye is the third-largest importer of Russian oil, following China and India.

Despite this, direct oil shipments from Russia to Türkiye did not decrease last month; in fact, they rose from a daily average of 62,000 tons in September to 67,000 tons.

However, this trend reversed in November. Shipments, which had fallen to a daily average of 26,000 tons in the week of October 27 to November 2, came to a complete halt in the week of November 3-9.

Russia’s overall exports are also declining

Russia’s total seaborne oil exports also decreased by 17% at the end of last week, falling to 333,000 tons per day.

According to the Center for Price Indices’ analysis, the decline in shipments affected all routes. Shipments to India decreased by 37% to 33,000 tons per day, while shipments to China fell by 35% to 89,000 tons per day.

The discount on Urals oil is increasing

During this period, the discount on Urals oil relative to the reference price has also widened.

The discount, which was $12.55 per barrel on October 20, increased to $19.40 for deliveries from the port of Primorsk as of November 12.

For deliveries from the port of Novorossiysk, the discount, which was $12.25 during the same period, rose to a range of 19.40-21.15 per barrel.

The discount is applied against the value of the “North Sea Dated” basket, which consists of Brent, Forties, Oseberg, Ekofisk, Troll, and American WTI Midland grades.