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Turkey significantly reduced its purchases of Russian oil toward the end of 2025, following pressure from the United States to decrease dependence on Moscow.
According to data from Turkey’s General Directorate of Petroleum, Russian oil accounted for 61.1% of the country’s total oil imports in September 2025. However, after a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — and Washington’s request to scale back imports from Russia — that share fell to 33.7% by December.
Official figures also show that Turkey’s total oil imports dropped from 1.6 million tons to 985,000 tons during the same period. A significant portion of the shortfall was replaced with oil imports from Iraq.
Meanwhile, Turkey has signed oil exploration and drilling agreements with major international energy companies, including Chevron and ExxonMobil. An additional agreement with BP is also expected, as part of Ankara’s broader efforts to diversify its energy sources and reduce strategic vulnerability.
