Turkey’s largest oil refinery, Tupras, stopped buying a Russian crude due to US sanctions announced on January 10 against Russian energy companies and tankers carrying Russian oil, according to Reuters.

‘With the latest sanctions imposed, we stopped buying Russian crude Urals and we will receive the final loads in February“, Said Levent Bayar, Tupras’s Investment Relations Chief Executive Officer.

It was not clear whether Tupras would also stop the imports of refined products from Russia.

Tupras had become one of their greater importers of Russian crude Following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russian oil represented 65% of Turkey’s total oil imports between January-November 2024, according to data from the Turkish Energy Regulatory Authority.

Last year, Tupras introduced 225,000 barrels daily (BPD) of Russian crude and in 2023 had imported 178,000 BPDs, according to the Kpler Maritime Analysis Company. Russia’s crude imports from Russia almost doubled from 2021 to 2022, approaching 170,000 BPDs, according to Kpler data.

Tupras also announced its annual financial sizes. The company recorded net profits of £ 18.32 billion ($ 505.1 million) for the whole year compared to $ 77.35 billion, which it had released a year earlier.

The company, owned by Koc Holding Kchol.is, based in Istanbul, has four oil refineries, including refineries in Nicomedia, Turkey and Smyrna, which are two of the country’s largest refineries.

The Tupras oil refinery in Smyrna, with a total argon treatment capacity of 241,500 barrels per day (BPD), received its latest crude URALS load on February 11, according to Kpler.