Turkey halves Black Sea deliveries of Russian oil as drone attacks disrupt exports

Turkey sharply cut purchases of oil loaded at Russian Black Sea ports in July and is set to reduce them further in August after Ukrainian drone attacks disrupted exports from terminals on the Black Sea, data from LSEG and traders show.

Trade flows rerouted as Black Sea shipments fall

In July Turkey — a major buyer of CPC Blend, Kazakhstan's KEBCO and Russia's Urals grades — took about 900,000 tonnes of oil from Russian ports, down from 1.2 million tonnes in June. Of that July total, a little more than 300,000 tonnes arrived via the Black Sea, compared with 600,000 tonnes the previous month.

LSEG's figures point to a further drop in August: Turkey is expected to receive roughly 200,000 tonnes from Russian Black Sea ports next month. Two tankers currently scheduled to arrive will carry Kazakhstan KEBCO, while there are no planned deliveries of CPC Blend or Urals to Turkey this month.

Turkish authorities have publicly condemned the attacks on tankers linked to Russia near Turkey's territorial waters in the Black Sea, saying they "represent a serious cause for concern and endanger the safety of navigation and trade in the region." Traders say Ankara is trying to diversify supply to blunt the fallout from the Black Sea crisis and, for the first time in a long period, will import crude from Brazil and Guyana in August.

The halt of shipments via the CPC pipeline — which transports roughly 1.8 percent of global oil production from Kazakhstan to Russia's Black Sea coast — since mid‑last month has added pressure to already strained routes, themselves affected by interruptions tied to the conflict involving the United States and Israel against Iran. The changes are reshaping short‑term regional trade patterns and add uncertainty to refinery feedstock planning in Turkey and the wider Black Sea market.

Photo: press material from the event