Turkey and Morocco Lead Fuel Supplies to Russia as Seaborne Imports Fall 44%

Turkey and Morocco became Russia’s largest suppliers of seaborne oil products in September, as total imports fell 44% from August’s record, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

Russia imported 234,000 metric tons, down from 416,000 in August. Despite the decline, September remained the second-highest month in the think tank’s data, which extend back to January 2022.

The figures cover seaborne shipments and do not establish that Russia’s domestic refining capacity has recovered.

Turkey becomes Russia’s largest supplier

Turkey supplied 55% of September’s imports. Four cargoes loaded at the southern port of Mersin carried 130,000 tons of fuel worth €94 million ($106 million), according to CREA.

Three cargoes contained gasoline and one contained diesel. The total was about three and a half times the 37,000 tons shipped from Mersin in August.

Russia supplied 89% of Mersin’s seaborne oil-product imports in the first half of 2026. CREA said some of that fuel might now be returning to Russia amid its domestic shortages. The loading port does not, by itself, establish where a cargo was refined.

Gasoline shipments from Morocco increase

Morocco was Russia’s second-largest supplier, shipping 96,000 tons in September, up from 70,000 in August and 39,000 in July.

All three September cargoes contained gasoline, according to Kpler shipping data cited by CREA. They were loaded at the Horizon terminal in Tangier and unloaded at St. Petersburg and Murmansk, with Gazprom and Surgutneftegas among the listed buyers.

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Indian shipments pause as South Korean deliveries shrink

Russia received no seaborne oil-product shipments from India in September, compared with 160,000 tons in August. However, a 40,000-ton cargo arrived from India in early October.

South Korean deliveries fell to 8,000 tons in September from 95,000 in August. None had arrived in October as of Oct. 13, CREA said, linking the slowdown to threatened legal action against South Korean exporters.

Kyiv Post previously reported on questions over South Korea’s fuel shipments. Seoul subsequently said the shipments were not prohibited, while investigating the trade.

The latest report’s August figures differ from earlier estimates cited by Kyiv Post. Its September comparison uses an August total of 416,000 tons.

Russian-derived fuel reaches sanctioning countries

CREA also identified seven September shipments to EU ports from refineries processing Russian crude, despite the bloc’s ban on products made from Russian oil, which took effect on Jan. 21, 2026.

Six shipments came from India and one from Turkey. Italy received three, Romania two, and Spain and the Republic of Cyprus one each.

The refinery’s use of Russian crude does not establish that every exported cargo contains Russian-derived fuel. CREA identified the shipments as requiring scrutiny under EU guidance.

Refineries in India, Turkey and Brunei that process Russian crude exported €1 billion ($1.12 billion) of oil products to sanctioning countries in September. CREA estimated that €295 million ($332 million) of those products were refined from Russian crude. Recipients included the EU, Australia, the US and New Zealand.

The findings come after Washington’s Oct. 9 agreement to ease restrictions on Russian diesel exports, which drew objections from European governments. Kyiv Post has examined the proposed supplies against fuel consumption. September’s lower import total alone does not establish how much additional diesel Russia can produce or export.