Turkey's total oil imports increased by 14.1% to 4.5 million tonnes in September this year compared to the same month last year, according to data of Turkey's energy watchdog on Friday.
Crude oil imports, the category with the highest oil import volume, grew by 26.7% during that period to 3.4 million tonnes, Turkey's Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) said in its monthly oil market report.
In September 2020, Turkey imported the highest amount of crude from Iraq at 1.2 million tonnes. Russia and Kazakhstan followed with 773,840 tonnes and 504,279 tonnes, respectively.
Oil refinery product output decreased by 5.6% to 3.02 million tonnes this September. While diesel production was up 16.7% to 1.5 million tonnes, gasoline production decreased by nearly 16.7% to 383,820 tonnes.
Total domestic oil product sales in September increased by 10.7% to 2.8 million tonnes compared to the same month of 2019. The increase of domestic product sales due to more use of private cars during the pandemic period led to a growth in the total oil imports.
By Nuran Erkul Kaya
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr