BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 24. The major scheduled maintenance at the STAR refinery (SOCAR asset) in Türkiye led to a halving of Türkiye's purchases of Russian oil, Trend reports via Kpler analytical company.
Türkiye is among the top three buyers of Russian oil, but by the end of August, its purchase of Russian oil fell to 200,000 barrels per day, from 400-450,000 barrels per day in early summer.
Kpler believes that the decline was due to planned preventive maintenance at the STAR refinery that began on September 5 (to last until early November), which has a long-term oil procurement contract with Russia's LUKOIL.
“This refinery consumed about 45 percent of all Russian oil supplied to the Turkish market. Due to preventive maintenance at the refinery, Russian oil supplies to the Turkish market have decreased,” Kpler concludes.
To note, the refining capacity of the STAR refinery is 200,000 barrels per day and will increase by 2.5 percent after the repair.
The plant, the construction of which cost 7 billion US dollars, has been operating since October 2018.