Black Sea Petroleum to Process Libyan Crude at Kulevi Refinery

Black Sea Petroleum (BSP), which owns a refinery in the Georgian port of Kulevi, announced that it had signed an agreement with an unnamed international company for the supply of oil from Libya.

“The Kulevi Refinery will receive Libyan oil from August 20 to 30. The agreement is valid until the end of 2027 and provides for an extension,” the company stated.

This follows an earlier announcement by BSP that it was switching to crude oil from Kazakhstan and Libya as part of its gradual phase-out plan of the banned Russian oil.

On 23 July, the EU imposed preventative sanctions on the Kulevi oil refinery which enter into force on 25 January 2027, unless the refinery ceases processing Russian oil.

On 24 July, BSP said that it would completely cease refining Russian oil in early September owing to preventative sanctions imposed by the European Union.

The EU ban applies to refineries processing Russian oil, and one of them, the Kulevi Refinery, is also included in the list.

Inclusion in the list takes place with a six-month delay to allow the refinery time to diversify activities away from Russian oil.

Following an assessment by the EC, the EU Council will decide on the need to include the refinery in the list, the European Commission said.

On 2 July, BSP officially announced its intention to stop importing Russian oil completely starting in August-September.