On December 8, SOCAR, the national oil company of Azerbaijan, stopped purchasing Russian crude oil for its refinery in Turkey, indicating that Western sanctions are beginning to impact outside of Europe and the United States.

In addition to a restriction on the use of EU shipping services for the transportation of Russian oil purchased over a Group of Seven (G7) price ceiling of $60 per barrel, an EU embargo on the importation of Russian seaborne crude oil went into force on December 5. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February, Turkish refineries, notably SOCAR's 214,000 barrel per day (bpd) STAR facility, increased their imports of Russian petroleum, a more profitable trade for Russian producers than Asia due to the nations' closeness.

Turkey has not ratified the price cap agreement; thus, Russian enterprises are free to export oil to Turkey without being constrained by it. According to statistics from Refinitiv Eikon, Russian exports to Turkey started to decline last month and have since February. A source, who does not want to share his name, claimed SOCAR was assessing the situation to ensure compliance with Western sanctions. Crude supplies for STAR are managed by the trading division of SOCAR in Geneva.

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