Georgia confirms Russian oil shipment to private Black Sea petroleum refinery

The Ministry of Finance of Georgia has confirmed that a vessel carrying Russian crude oil has entered the Georgian port of Kulevi, as per Georgian media reports, cited by Caliber.Az.

The announcement follows a Reuters report stating that Russia delivered 105,300 tonnes of Siberian Light crude from Russneft to Georgia’s new oil refinery, owned by the private company Black Sea Petroleum.

According to the Revenue Service of the Finance Ministry, on October 2, the vessel KAYSERI, flying the Panamanian flag and dispatched by a Russian company, docked at Kulevi after departing a Russian port. 

Inspections confirmed that the ship, its owning company, and the companies involved in sending and receiving the cargo are not subject to any international sanctions.

The Kulevi refinery is the first of its kind in Georgia and officially began operations this month. It currently has a processing capacity of approximately 1.2 million tonnes of crude oil per year, with plans to expand to 4 million tonnes in the future.

By Tamilla Hasanova