Turkey doubles oil imports from Russia

Turkey’s oil imports from Russia doubled throughout the year, according to data from Refinitiv Eikon, Reuters reported. 

Refinitiv Eikon, formerly a Reuters subsidiary, is an open-technology solution which provides access to industry-leading data.

Turkey increased oil imports from Russia, including Urals and Siberian Light grades, beyond 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) so far this year compared to just 98,000 bpd for the same period of 2021, Refinitiv data showed, according to Reuters.

As Turkey excluded itself from Western sanctions on Russia, trade between Turkey and Russia has been booming since February, when Russia began invading Ukraine. 

On 29 July, Bloomberg revealed that Russian state-owned company Rosatom would transfer $15 billion to continue the building of a nuclear power plant in Turkey's south, as Putin’s ‘goodwill gesture’ for Erdogan’s role in a landmark deal to unlock grain exports out of Ukraine.

Earlier this month, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met in the Russian city of Sochi and agreed to boost economic cooperation in transport, agriculture, finance and construction.

The two leaders also agreed to switch part of the payments for Russian gas to roubles.

Turkey also stepped up efforts to join the Russian Mir credit card system. As Mastercard and Visa have halted operations in Russia, Mir card payments will allow Russian tourists to pay for their purchases in Turkey.