Lubricant imports stagnated in Georgia in 2023, according to data published by the Union of Oil Products Importers, a trade organization.
The small Caucasus nation imports most of the lubricants it consumes, but 2023 imports might have been higher had some production not been shifted from Ukraine to Georgia after Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
The union only published lube import data for the first 11 months of 2023. During that period, the country took in 21,000 metric tons of finished lubricants, an 8% increase from the volumes imported in the same period in 2022.
Turkey was the largest foreign supplier of oils to Georgia last year. In the first 11 months of 2023, the country shipped 4,520 tons of lubes to Georgia, or 21% of the total. It was followed by Iran, with 3,900 tons or 18%, Germany with 2,650 tons for 12% and Azerbaijan with 1,460 tons for 7%.
Domestic lubricants production in Georgia was nonexistent prior to 2022, but Azmol-BP, a Ukrainian lube marketer, relocated part of its production to Kutaisi, in central Georgia, after losing control of its sprawling factory in Berdyansk, an city in southeastern Ukraine now occupied by Russia. The 36,000 t/y plant in Kutaisi is operated by UG Lubricants, formerly Agrinol Kavkaz, which is owned by Alexander Ponomarеv, a member of the Ukrainian parliament.