Georgia’s only refinery refuses Russian oil, fearing EU sanctions

Georgia’s only oil refinery, located in the port of Kulevi, is refusing Russian oil, fearing EU sanctions.

This is reported by Ukrinform.

David Potskhveria, CEO of Black Sea Petroleum (BSP), which runs the company, said that BSP plans to replace Russian oil with raw materials from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, as well as use “other alternative sources.”

“Our task is to completely replace the existing Russian oil,” he commented.

Potskhveria noted that although BSP initially started its work using Russian oil, the company is currently actively working to diversify its oil sources, as the EU prohibits the import of oil products refined from Russian raw materials. The use of oil of other origins will eliminate these export restrictions and open new markets for BSP.

However, one of the main problems is the start of the transit of Turkmen oil through the Azerbaijani railway system.

“Unfortunately, and somewhat unexpectedly, rail transit through Azerbaijan in our direction has become more difficult. We reached an agreement on Turkmen crude oil several months ago, but its transportation has been postponed,” explained Potshveria. He added that once the rail supply chain is activated, it will automatically allow transit of other sources, including Kazakh crude oil.

USM previously reported that the EU has decided not to include the Georgian port of Kulevi in ​​the 20th package of sanctions against Russia. The Georgian authorities and the port operator have committed to not allowing vessels under EU sanctions to call at Kulevi and to comply with European restrictions on Russian oil.