Turkey increased its imports of diesel from the United States and India in August to record levels, shipping data showed, as a Russian ban on diesel exports and wider disruption caused by the Iran war prompted its importers to diversify their sources of supply.
So far this month, Turkey has imported more than 120,000 barrels per day of Indian diesel, while its imports from the U.S. reached 90,000 bpd, according to commodities data firm Kpler.
These volumes are the highest monthly totals on record, according to Kpler data going back to 2017.
Russia has banned exports of diesel until at least the end of August after Ukrainian strikes on refineries disrupted domestic supplies. Middle Eastern supplies have been curbed by war damage to the region's oil refineries and reduced shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
"With Russian refinery disruptions and export restrictions, Turkey is having to scramble for barrels from the non-Russian pool," Sparta Commodities analyst Abhishek Kumar said.
Energy Aspects, which also provides data on energy flows, estimated India sent a smaller amount of 74,000 bpd to Turkey in August and that the U.S. shipped 70,000 bpd. Still, these are the highest since 2022 and 2019 respectively based on EA data.
Turkey’s imports of Russian diesel declined to around 100,000 bpd in July and 80,000 bpd in August, having held above 200,000 bpd in the earlier months of this year since January, Kpler data showed. This reduced Russia’s share of Turkey’s diesel imports to 20% in August.
In 2025, Russia supplied 85% of Turkey’s diesel imports with 281,000 bpd, according to Turkey’s energy regulator.
Russia may extend the diesel exports ban into September, according to industry sources.
(Reuters)