Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.26 / Trend, A.Taghiyeva /
Turkey is considering increasing its oil imports from Russia to avoid the impact of Western sanctions against the Iranian oil sector, the Sabah newspaper has quoted Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz as saying on Monday.
He stressed Turkey may replace part of purchased Iranian oil with the Russian oil. Yildiz plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Turkey next week.
Oil imports into Turkey in September 2012 fell by 16.6 percent compared to the previous month and reached 1.7 million tons, Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) said in its report earlier.
Oil imports in January-September 2012 increased by 4 per cent compared to the same period of 2011 and amounted to 14.4 million tons. Today Turkey imports oil from Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan.
Turkey imports eight million tons of oil and eight billion cubic meters of gas from Iran every year.
The U.S. and other Western countries accuse Iran of developing nuclear weapons under cover of peaceful nuclear energy program. Tehran denies the charges, saying its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.