https://harici.com.tr/abd-turkiyeyi-rusya-ile-enerji-ticaretini-kesmeye-zorluyor/
USA forces Turkey to cut off energy trade with Russia
USA forces Turkey to cut off energy trade with Russia
The US administration is increasing Turkey's diplomatic pressure from Russia to reduce or completely stop oil and natural gas imports. Ankara, on the other hand, approaches with distance to giving up Russian resources, which meet half of its needs, on the grounds of high inflation and energy security.
The US administration is increasing its pressure from Russia to reduce or completely stop the purchase of oil and natural gas from Russia.
The Russian Embassy in Ankara told the Izvestiya newspaper that Washington forced its allies to end energy cooperation with Moscow.
According to the data, Russia meets 47 percent of Turkey's oil imports and approximately 50 percent of its natural gas needs.
Sanction pressure from Washington administration to NATO members
The US side intensified calls to Ankara to restrict energy cooperation. According to Russian diplomatic sources, US Vice President JD Vance and Foreign Secretary Marco Rubio asked all NATO countries, including Turkey, to abandon Russian energy resources completely at the meeting in Washington on November 11.
The Russian Embassy said, "Since the approach of imposing one's own will is widespread in the West, the pressure on Turkey is inevitably increasing."
Diplomats described these initiatives as "unfair competition" and emphasized that Moscow and Ankara are in contact with a wide range, including the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant.
Ankara continues to negotiate with Gazprom
The official position of the USA is based on the thesis that energy revenues finance Moscow's military operations. But economic factors also play a role in the process.
Washington provides Turkey with approximately 5 million tons (6.8 billion cubic meters) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year and keeps its market share at 10 percent.
According to the data of the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the price of a thousand cubic meters of American gas goes up to 270 dollars.
On the other hand, Ankara demands a discount of over 25 percent from Gazprom and aims for a price of about 230 dollars for a thousand cubic meters of natural gas.
Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar reiterated that Russia is a reliable supplier. Bayraktar said, "We have been getting gas from Russia since the 1980s. They meet 40-50 percent of our needs. There is nothing to worry about, we continue to import," he said.
Route change and paper interruptions in refineries
After the new sanctions that came into effect last month, STAR and Tüpraş refineries in Turkey started to increase their crude oil purchases from Iraq and Kazakhstan.
This month, Turkey is expected to buy four batches of oil ranging from 77 thousand to 129 thousand barrels per day.
In September and October, almost all of the daily capacity of 210 thousand barrels of the STAR refinery was allocated to Russian oil.
Speaking to Izvestiya, economist Vasiliy Koltasov argued that possible cuts would be "really rather nominal". Reminding that the West exerts similar pressures on other buyers such as India, Koltaşov said, "As in the case of India, Ankara may announce a 20 percent cut on paper, but in practice, trade continues. For Turkish managers, the issue is not sympathy, but the win-win principle" he said.
Topics other than energy are also decisive in Turkey's commercial relations with Russia.
As of October, the risk of inflation and increase in food prices, which is at the level of 35 percent, narrows Ankara's maneuvering space.
Vasiliy Koltaşov stated that if President Erdoğan submits to Western pressure, he will have a hard time in domestic politics, adding, "Ankara may propose a new grain agreement in line with the interests of the West, but it will not give up Russian energy in a way that will directly damage its own economy."