Russian oil avoids sanctions by transiting Turkish ports
A recent report by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) reveals that the European Union (EU) imported petroleum products worth 3 billion euros from Turkish ports that deal mainly with Russian oil, ports that do not have refining hubs.
This trade effectively allowed the EU/G7 sanctions on Russian oil products to be circumvented.
Since the implementation of the EU/G7 oil products ban on 5 February 2023, until the end of February 2024, the EU purchased 5.16 million tonnes of oil products worth €3.1 billion from Turkish ports of Ceyhan, Marmara Ere?lisi and Mersin. These ports, lacking refining capacity, imported 86% of their oil products from Russia during this period, turning Turkey into a major re-import hub.
Turkey's imports of Russian oil have increased nearly fivefold over the past decade. By 2023, Turkey will become the largest global buyer of Russian oil products, importing 18% of Russia's total exports. This dependence grew from 52% in 2022 to 72% in 2023, indicating a growing dependence on Russian refined products such as diesel, gas oil and jet fuel.
Investigations by CREA and CSD suggest that European entities may have imported Russian petroleum products that are blended or re-exported from Turkish storage terminals. One example cited is the Toros Ceyhan oil terminal, which received 26,923 tonnes of diesel from Novorossiysk in May 2023 and subsequently shipped a similar volume to Greece's MOH Corinth refinery. This trade exploits legal loopholes, allowing blended Russian oil products to enter the EU.
The diversion of Russian oil through Turkey not only circumvented sanctions, but also generated significant tax revenue for Russia, estimated at 5.4 billion euros, by supporting its war efforts in Ukraine. To address this issue, CREA and CSD recommend tightening EU legislation, applying strict rules of origin and investigating shipments to avoid further evasion of sanctions.
In the end, sanctions are proving to be an ineffective and hypocritical tool.
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The article Russian oil avoids sanctions by transiting Turkish ports comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/il-petrolio-russo-evita-le-sanzioni-transitando-nei-porti-turchi/ on Sat, 18 May 2024 07:00:12 +0000.