Türkiye's biggest oil refiner, Tüpraş, has stopped buying Russian crude because of U.S. sanctions announced on Jan. 10 against Russian energy companies and tankers carrying Russian oil, the company said on a call following an earnings report on Tuesday.
"With the latest sanctions imposed, we have stopped buying Urals and will receive the final cargoes during February," said Levent Bayar, Tüpraş's executive director of investor relations.
It was not clear whether Tüpraş would stop importing refined products from Russia. Tüpraş did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company become one of the biggest importers of Russian crude since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russian oil represented 65% of Türkiye's total oil imports from January to November 2024, according to data from the country's energy regulator.
Last year, Tüpraş imported 225,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Russian crude, the highest on record, and it had risen from 178,000 bpd in 2023, according to shipping data analytics firm Kpler. Tüpraş’s Russian crude imports nearly doubled from 2021 to 2022 at 170,000 bpd, Kpler data showed.
On Tuesday, the refiner reported a full-year net profit of TL 18.32 billion ($505.1 million), compared to TL 77.35 billion the previous year.
The company, owned by Istanbul-based conglomerate Koç Holding, owns four oil refineries, including Izmit and Izmir, two of the country's largest plants.
Tüpraş's Izmir oil refinery, with a total crude processing capacity of 241,500 bpd, received its latest cargo of Urals on Feb. 11, according to Kpler data.
