Russian Urals oil supplies to Turkey’s STAR refinery rise to one-year high

Russian Urals oil supplies to Turkey's STAR refinery, controlled by Azerbaijan's SOCAR, hit a one-year high in June above 800,000 tonnes (about 195,000 barrels per day), LSEG data showed and traders said.

STAR is the largest oil refinery in Turkey with a capacity of more than 200,000 bpd.

In 2023, SOCAR agreed a contract for long-term oil supplies with Russia's Lukoil. Oil from Lukoil provides the largest share of crude supplies to the STAR refinery, traders said.

SOCAR didn't immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Turkey increased purchases of Urals oil in June to 1.6 million tonnes - the highest since May 2024, LSEG data showed.

The increase was due to the return to the Russian oil market of Turkish refiner Tupras, which stopped purchases of Urals earlier this year due to sanctions, but resumed them in April, when Russian oil began to trade below the price cap of $60 per barrel set by Western countries.

Purchases by Tupras' refineries in Izmit and Izmir accounted for approximately the same volume as the STAR refinery, about 200,000 bpd in June, according to LSEG data.

Police raids in Russia last week sparked a diplomatic crisis with Azerbaijan, which accused Moscow of extra-judicial killings and has arrested Russians in an apparent tit-for-tat move. Moscow has called for dialogue and a diplomatic solution.

Cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan in the oil and gas sector has declined in recent years.

In particular, several years ago Azerbaijan stopped transit of its oil via the Russian port of Novorossiysk ,oil that was shipped as the Siberian Light grade.

Lukoil stopped its oil transit via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline in 2022 due to sanctions.

(Reporting by Reuters Editing by Mark Potter)