Photo caption: Crude oil
Turkey’s largest oil refiner Tupras has returned to buying Russian Urals crude cargoes, after it stopped doing so earlier this year due to stronger U.S. sanctions on Moscow, according to three trading sources and shipping data.
Tupras did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.
The three sources said Tupras resumed its purchases after prices for Urals crude fell to its lowest levels since 2023, earlier this month, dropping comfortably below a G7 price cap level of $60 a barrel.
The price cap imposed by the Group of Seven countries, the European Union and Australia bans the use of Western maritime services such as insurance, flagging and transportation when tankers carry Russian oil priced at or above $60 a barrel. Since October, the U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on multiple tankers suspected of breaching the price cap.
Tupras became one of the biggest importers of Russian crude after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Russian oil representing 65% of the country’s total oil imports in January-November 2024, according to data from Turkey’s energy regulator.
The company halted purchases of Russian crude in February because of mounting concerns around U.S. sanctions following the extensive package announced on January 10.
Tupras will receive at least two cargoes of Urals for April loading, trading sources with knowledge of the matter said.
One of the cargoes is already on the water, tracking data shows. The Nissos Christiana loaded around 730,000 barrels of Russian Urals crude from the Baltic port of Ust-Luga on April 3, data from global real-time data and analytics provider Kpler showed. It is for delivery to Izmit on April 21, where Tupras operates a 225,800-barrel-per-day capacity oil refinery, the data showed.
It was not immediately clear if any other vessel had been fixed for Tupras’ additional cargo purchase.
Tupras is the largest refiner in Turkey with two refineries at Izmit and Izmir, which have a combined crude processing capacity of 467,300 bpd, according to LSEG data.
When it halted Russian purchases, Tupras turned to alternative crude grades, including making its first purchase of Brazilian crude oil last month.
Other sources of Tupras’ March-April crude imports include Guyana, Nigeria, Libya and Norway, according to Kpler data.
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