Turkey Closes Key Oil Terminal For Russia
- 6.03.2024, 12:43
Due to US sanctions.
The Dortyol terminal on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey will no longer accept Russian imports amid increased US sanctions pressure.
Reuters reported.
Global Terminal Services (GTS), which operates a terminal in the southeastern Turkish province of Hatay, said it had told its customers it would not accept any goods from Russia.
“GTS decided to cut all possible connections to Russian oil and declared accordingly 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 any products loaded from Russian ports as an additional measure to the sanction rules in effect,” GTS said.
The statement reads that all previous operations fully complied with the sanctions, including the price limit of 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 added.
The US
The threat to impose sanctions on financial firms doing business with Russia has already chilled Turkish-Russian trade, disrupting or slowing some payments for both imported oil and Turkish exports.
The GTS terminal, which imports, exports and stores fuel and crude oil, received 11.74 million barrels of Russian crude oil and fuel last year, according to shipping analytics firm Kpler.
It has become Turkey's seventh-largest import terminal in terms of volume, rising from 10th place in 2021. Its oil and fuel imports from Russia in 2023 were about seven times the total received from all sources in 2021, the last full year before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Exports from the terminal also jumped in 2023, almost quintupling from 2021 to around 24.7 million barrels.
The last tanker unloaded in Dortyol arrived on February 19, delivering 511,000 barrels of diesel fuel from the Russian Baltic port of Primorsk.
The usual destinations of oil exported from Dortyol were the Greek ports of Corinth, Elefsis and Thessaloniki, and the Northwest European oil trading, refining and storage hubs of Rotterdam and Antwerp.
Ankara opposes Western sanctions on Moscow, despite criticising Russia's invasion of Ukraine two years ago. It has managed to maintain close ties with both Moscow and Kyiv throughout the conflict. Throughout the conflict, she managed to maintain close ties with both Moscow and Kyiv.