Georgia’s only refinery switches entirely to non-Russian crude

Black Sea Petroleum, which owns the Kulevi refinery on Georgia's Black Sea coast, says the plant has processed exclusively non-Russian crude since Aug. 24, having received its first Libyan shipment on Aug. 28 under a contract signed in July running through 2027. The company had earlier begun processing Kazakh crude in July after first taking Russian oil only in October 2025.

The European Union placed the refinery on its sanctions list under its 21st package, giving it until January 2027 to stop using Russian oil — a deadline the company says it has now beaten by well over a year. The facility currently processes 1.2 million metric tons annually, with a planned expansion to 4.5 million tons as part of a $700 million investment.

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