Oil in Turkey

[5] Turkey is the world's largest user of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for road transport.

[6] Because Turkey produces only 7% of the oil it consumes, the country's total imports are worth more than its exports, which is a problem for its economy.

[6] It is hoped the locally manufactured electric cars and other road vehicles from the country's automotive industry will eventually reduce the import bill.

[14]: 19 Fossil-fuelled road-vehicle exhaust emissions pollute large cities with nitrogen dioxide and other gasses.

Air pollution from ships burning heavy fuel oil near cities is a problem in some places, such as Mersin.

[28] Shale oil may be extractable from Dadaş but well-waste fluids would need to be properly handled to minimize the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing.

[35] Diesel fuel imported from Russia is shipped to Turkey from the Black Sea ports of Novorossiisk, Tuapse and Taman.

[46] Oil tankers from Novorossiysk deliver to Korfez and Aliağa, near Turkey's third-biggest city İzmir.

Most exports from the petroleum industry in Azerbaijan transit Turkey[54] because their light oil fetches a premium price on the world market.

[56] In 2024 protesters against the war in Gaza called for transit of crude and refined products to Israel to be stopped.

In Turkey, tax levied on diesel is lower than that on petrol, and it has been suggested by the Istanbul International Centre for Energy and Climate at Sabancı University that taxes on diesel and petrol should be more-closely aligned with each other to minimise imports, because Turkey has enough petrol-refining capacity.

[83] For example, Shell and Vitol are claimed to have done this with SOCAR and Tüpraş, although there is no proof the purchased products were refined from Russian crude.

The two main political parties in Northern Iraq the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) would have to agree for a new pipeline to take the shortest route because oil would come from wells in the PUK-controlled area and pass through a KDP-controlled area.

[93] Turkey intends to increase the share of renewables and nuclear power in the national energy mix.

[95] It is hoped further electrification, of sectors such as road transport[96] will reduce Turkey's dependency on imported oil.

[97][98][99] In late Ottoman times, permission to explore for oil in the İskenderun area was granted to the Grand Vizier Kamil Pasha and later to Ahmet Necati Bey.

[23] With the fall of the Ottoman Empire, oil and gas fields in Mosul vilayet—of which Kirkuk was a part—were lost and since then, Turkey has had to rely on imports.

[102] In 2022, Turkey's oil consumption decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting travel restrictions.

A large, low ship in front of a city skyline
Tankers , like this one in the Bosporus , are one way to export oil from Central Asia .
Primary energy supply is about a quarter each from coal, oil, gas, and other sources.
Some ships burn heavy fuel oil near cities.
Oil is piped from Azerbaijan and Iraq and some is shipped from Russia to larger refineries (R) in the west. Azerbaijani oil is mostly re-exported by tanker from Ceyhan .
A medium size ship in front of a hazy city skyline
Small tankers , like this one, sometimes carry oil from Novorossiisk on the Black Sea , and pass through the Bosphoros to supply refineries near İzmir .
Many large metal structures, cylindrical tanks and chimneys next to a large road
The Star Aegean refinery in İzmir belongs to SOCAR (the state-owned oil company of Azerbaijan), and produces mostly diesel from Azeri oil. [ 58 ] [ 59 ]
Medium sized ship viewed from starboard. Painted mostly red with the Turkish crescent and star in white near the bow. Above the bow is a helicopter deck and there is a large derrick amidships. Two small cranes are built into the side of the ship.
The Kanuni is an offshore deep-sea drilling ship. [ 79 ]