Black Sea Petroleum: Kulevi oil refinery transitions fully to non-Russian crude, completing phase-out

Black Sea Petroleum has announced that as of 23 August, its oil processing plant in Kulevi transitioned entirely to refining non-Russian crude, successfully concluding its phase-out of Russian oil supplies.

According to an official corporate statement, the transition marks the final fulfilment of the company’s diversification commitments.

“On 23 August, Black Sea Petroleum LLC’s Kulevi oil refinery commenced processing exclusively non-Russian raw materials, thereby successfully completing the company’s phase-out of Russian crude.

This milestone was preceded by a transition phase spanning July and the first three weeks of August, during which the facility processed Kazakh crude alongside Russian supplies.

On 30 August, the tanker KRITI LEGEND docked at the Port of Kulevi, delivering the initial batch of Libyan crude oil for BSP, a shipment of up to 90,000 tonnes delivered under a long-term supply agreement executed on 3 July.

Consequently, the crude diversification strategy announced by Black Sea Petroleum on 1 and 31 July has been successfully executed,” the company statement read.

It emerged in July that the Kulevi oil refinery was included in the EU’s 21st sanctions package, giving the facility a six-month grace period before full enforcement. European Commission spokesperson Siobhán McGarry subsequently clarified that the six-month deferral was intended to allow the facility’s operators to diversify away from Russian crude supplies.

“We want these commitments to be met. That is precisely why we granted a six-month grace period to allow the plant owners the opportunity to diversify away from Russian oil. If the Commission determines that these obligations have been fulfilled, Kulevi will be removed from the sanctions list,” the spokesperson noted.