Welcoming Iran supply, Turkey says no plans to cut Russian oil imports

Turkey is hoping Washington and Tehran will reach a deal soon that will bring Iran back into compliance with the 2015 nuclear accord.

Turkey relies on Russia for 45 per cent of its natural gas demand, 17 per cent of oil and 40 per cent of its gasoline, deputy energy and natural resources minister Alparslan Bayraktar recently said.

Bayraktar stressed that it was not easy for Turkey to replace its Russian oil supply from elsewhere, according to a report in a top Turkish daily.

The sanctions will have a ‘terrifying’ effect on the global oil market, Bayraktar told a media outlet on the sidelines of an energy event in Houston, United States.

"It will be very difficult to replace Russia, the world’s largest oil producer, in the global market," the deputy minister said.

Persistent high-oil prices prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could cut a full percentage point off the growth of large oil-importing developing economies like China, Turkey, Indonesia and South Africa, according to World Bank vice president for equitable growth, finance and institutions Indermit Gill.

The war will deal further setbacks to growth for emerging markets already lagging in recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and struggling with a range of uncertainties from debt to inflation, he wrote in a blog post.

"It’s too soon to tell the degree to which the conflict will alter the global economic outlook," he cautioned.

Oil prices have more than doubled over the last six months.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)