Turkey cut Russian crude oil imports in the months following US President Donald Trump’s urging Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the White House on September 25 to stop buying Russian oil.
Russia still remains Turkey’s largest petroleum supplier, with total crude oil and petroleum product imports increasing by 8.2 percent year over year in December 2025 to 4.54 million tons, according to the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK).
Crude oil imports, the largest component of Turkey’s petroleum imports, increased 18 percent to 2.92 million tons in December, the EPDK’s Petroleum Market Sector Report for the month said. Diesel imports rose 7.6 percent to 1.24 million tons. The remainder consisted of gasoline, fuel oil, aviation and maritime fuels and other products.
Russia accounted for 2.16 million tons of Turkey’s total petroleum imports in December, followed by Iraq with 852,937 tons and Kazakhstan with 426,754 tons.
A comparison of EPDK sector reports for October, November and December 2025 shows Russia’s share of Turkey’s total petroleum imports falling in the months after the Trump- Erdoğan meeting.
Russia’s total petroleum exports to Turkey fell from 2.72 million tons in October to 2.07 million tons in November before slightly rising to 2.16 million tons in December. Over the same period, Russia’s share of Turkey’s total petroleum imports dropped from 61.1 percent in October to 54.4 percent in November and 47.5 percent in December, a 13.6 percentage-point decline.
The decline was larger in crude oil. Russian crude imports fell from 1.46 million tons in October to 1.13 million tons in November and 985,526 tons in December, a drop of about 33 percent over the quarter.
Trump’s appeal
Trump urged Erdoğan to stop buying Russian oil because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, during their September 25 meeting at the White House.
putin must stop. I want Erdogan to stop buying any oil from russia as long as the russian Federation continues its aggression against Ukraine," Trump said during a meeting with the Turkish president. pic.twitter.com/BQdCp5zif7
— Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 (@jurgen_nauditt) September 25, 2025
“I’d like to have him stop buying any oil from Russia while Russia continues this rampage against Ukraine,” Trump told reporters at the start of the meeting in the Oval Office.
Turkey is Russia’s fourth-biggest trading partner, according to Europe’s Bruegel institute, which tallied $52 billion worth of exchanges in 2024, largely fossil fuels and electronics.
Shift toward other suppliers
As Russian crude imports declined, Turkey increased purchases from Iraq and Kazakhstan. Iraq’s crude oil shipments to Turkey rose from 341,762 tons in October to 852,938 tons in December. Crude imports from Kazakhstan climbed from 253,836 tons to 426,505 tons over the same period.
Libya and Norway supplied 133,717 tons and 107,680 tons, respectively, of crude oil in December, volumes that were minimal in the prior two months.
Despite the decline, Russia remained Turkey’s top petroleum supplier in December, with total imports more than two-and-a-half times those of Iraq.
Domestic sales, exports and refinery output
Domestic gasoline sales in December rose 22.2 percent year over year to 501,114 tons. Total petroleum product sales increased 11.4 percent to 3.06 million tons, while diesel sales grew 9.8 percent to 2.41 million tons.
Total petroleum exports rose 7.6 percent to 1.11 million tons. Aviation fuel exports increased 62.8 percent to 505,461 tons, while diesel exports fell 60.3 percent to 123,914 tons, gasoline exports dropped 37.4 percent to 6,831 tons and maritime fuel exports declined 13.3 percent to 103,908 tons.
Total refinery production rose 16.1 percent year over year to 3.50 million tons. Aviation fuel production increased 37.6 percent to 479,147 tons, while gasoline production fell 4.8 percent to 440,272 tons and diesel production declined 2.9 percent to 1.48 million tons.