Turkey halts payment transfers for Russian oil due to US sanctions

Russian oil exporters have not received money from Turkey for the sold barrels for about two to three weeks, a source in one of the major oil companies told Reuters.

Difficulties with the payment of energy carriers arose after the United States warned in December of tough measures for violation of sanctions against Russia.

"The originally agreed upon method had to be changed or the payment had to be postponed, but the shipment continued," the source told Reuters.

In January, similar problems arose with India, which refused to accept 14 tankers of Sokol Sakhalin oil after Rosneft failed to open an account in the UAE to receive payment in dirhams.

According to two other Reuters sources, the flow of Russian fuel in the direction of Turkey has not stopped yet as only a few small shipments have encountered delays.

The tightening of banking procedures has primarily hit non-energy trade, a third source told Reuters.

"The real problem arises not with the payment that Turkey should make, but with the payment that Turkey will receive [from Russia]," the source said.

As a result, Turkish exports to the Russian Federation were paralyzed: the supply of machines and equipment practically stopped, the source of the agency explained.

Turkey has more than doubled its purchases of Russian oil since the start of the full-scale war with Ukraine and remains the only NATO country that continues to receive barrels from the Russian Federation. In January-November 2023, 8.9 million tons of crude oil of Russian origin arrived at Turkish refineries, in particular the largest STAR. In addition, Russian oil producers sold 9.4 million tons of diesel fuel to the Turkish market.

Sanctions against tankers that transported Russian oil at a higher price across the border dealt a serious blow to the shadow fleet.