Turkish terminal refuses to import Russian oil amid US sanctions – Reuters

One of Türkiye's medium-sized Mediterranean oil terminals, Dortyol, will no longer accept imports from Russia despite handling record volumes last year, due to increased sanctions pressure from the United States.

Source: Global Terminal Services (GTS), which operates the terminal, told Reuters, as reported by European Pravda

Details: "GTS decided to cut all possible connections to Russian oil, and therefore announced to its customers in late February 2024 that even if there is no breach of any laws, regulations or sanctions, it would not accept any product of Russian origin or shipped from Russian ports as an additional measure regarding the sanction rules in effect," GTS informed Reuters.

GTS noted that all previous transactions were carried out in full compliance with the sanctions, including the price caps imposed by the G7 countries.

"GTS's new approach is an additional measure to eliminate the effects of activities that are beyond its reach and control despite the efforts to comply with all applicable sanctions," GTS stressed.

The GTS terminal, which imports, exports and stores refined fuel and crude oil, received 11.74 million barrels of Russian oil and fuel last year, according to data from seaborne shipping analyst Kpler.

US threats to sanction financial companies doing business with Russia have put chilling effects upon Turkish-Russian trade, interrupting or delaying some payments for both imported oil and Turkish exports.

It has become Türkiye's seventh-largest terminal by import volume, up from 10th place in 2021. Imports of Russian oil and fuel in 2023 exceeded the total volume received from all sources in 2021 by about seven times.

Exports from the terminal also surged in 2023, rising almost fivefold compared to 2021, to around 24.7 million barrels, Kpler said.

Background:

• Earlier, it was reported that Bulgaria officially stopped using and importing Russian oil for fuel production on 1 March following a parliamentary decision that terminated their exemption from EU sanctions.
• On 27 February, media reports suggested that the oil tankers NS Creation and Zaliv Amursky, after the former was included in the US sanctions list, stopped pumping Russian oil between them, a scheme Moscow employed to circumvent the price cap.
• Effective October, the US Department of the Treasury started cracking down on companies that transported Russian oil at a price higher than the price cap.

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