Georgia pivots away from processing Russian oil
Jakub Pabis / energiesmedia
The Kulevi Oil Refinery, Georgia’s only crude processing
facility, will stop cracking Russian
crude in the coming months, its owner, Black Sea Petroleum (BSP), announced on July 2.
“Starting from August–September of this year, the company will begin refining crude oil of entirely non-Russian origin,” the statement said.
“This will open doors to high-margin markets for products manufactured by ‘Black Sea Petroleum,” it added, suggesting the move was motivated by Western sanctions on Russian-origin derivatives.
BSP said the refinery refined more than 650,000 tons of crude in the first half of 2026. The company has expanded a partnership with Honeywell to include the purchase and installation of equipment and automated control systems.
BSP plans to begin producing road bitumen for domestic and export markets in Q1 2027 and to start making aviation fuel in Q2 2027.
In February, the European Union considered including
the Kulevi terminal in a package of sanctions against Russia, but Georgian
officials insisted neither the terminal nor the nearby refinery violated
sanctions. BSP said it imported Russian crude in compliance with sanctions and
on the basis of legal advice from UK and Swiss law firms.
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