(Finance) – The Turkey has increased oil imports from Russia to over 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) so far this year, compared to just 98,000 bpd for the same period in 2021, according to Refinitiv data, a financial data provider belonging to London Stock Exchange Group. The country led by Tayyip Erdogan stands filling the void left by European businessesas Turkish companies have not been prohibited from dealing with Russian counterparts.
As a result, trade between Turkey and Russia has been booming since last spring, which is after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of Western sanctions. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan also met in early August for strengthen business cooperation.
Again according to Refinitiv data, the major Turkish refineries belonging to the company Tupras (the country’s largest) will purchase around 111,000 barrels a day of oil from Russia from January to August this year, compared to just 45,000 barrels a day in the same period last year.