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The Azerbaijani national oil company has been forced to turn to Russia to supply its refinery in Turkey after US sanctions cut off the flow of Iranian crude oil, Bloomberg said on Sunday.
The Star refinery of the Azerbaijani national oil company (SOCAR) located in the Aegean region of Turkey has agreed to buy 1 million tons of Ural crude, a tenth of its annual requirements, to the Russian company Rosneft PJSC, said the executive of the refinery, Mesut İlter, in a Bloomberg interview.
The Star refinery, opened last October in the Aegean town of Aliağa, is the second largest refinery in the country, accounting for a quarter of Turkey's refining capacity.
Iran had been one of Turkey's leading oil suppliers before US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from a nuclear deal signed with Tehran by his predecessor, Barack Obama, and to impose new sanctions on Iran last year.
Despite sharp rhetoric between US policy and close relations with Tehran, Turkey has complied with the sanctions imposed since a derogation allowing it to continue buying Iranian oil has expired earlier this year.
The reduction in Iranian supplies has increased Turkey 's dependence on Russia, which is already its biggest supplier of energy. The two countries are collaborating on projects that include a double pipeline to bring Russian gas into Europe via Turkey and the construction of Turkey's first nuclear power plant.
"If there were no restrictions, we would buy Iranian crude," İlter told Bloomberg, adding that the refinery could buy crude oil anywhere "if our model allows it. ".
The new refinery will bring local diesel production in Turkey to 60% of demand and, together with the other refinery run by the Turkish petrochemical company Tüpraş, will meet all of the country's jet fuel demand, İlter said.
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