Turkey’s Dardanelles Strait, an export route for Russian crude oil, re-opened to tanker traffic on Monday after a brief closure due to poor visibility and heavy snow, coast guard officials said.
The waterway opened at 4:30 p.m. after closing for one hour to both directions of traffic, the officials said.
At the other end of the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorous Strait, which bisects Istanbul, saw no weather-related disruptions, a traffic-control official said.
Closure of the Turkish straits during the winter months can increase Black Sea oil tanker rates as delays reduce the availability of vessels.
Some 100 million tonnes of oil and petroleum products pass through the straits each year. Turkey wants to reduce that flow to protect the environmentally sensitive waterways and says building a pipeline is a cleaner alternative.
The waterway opened at 4:30 p.m. after closing for one hour to both directions of traffic, the officials said.
At the other end of the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorous Strait, which bisects Istanbul, saw no weather-related disruptions, a traffic-control official said.
Closure of the Turkish straits during the winter months can increase Black Sea oil tanker rates as delays reduce the availability of vessels.
Some 100 million tonnes of oil and petroleum products pass through the straits each year. Turkey wants to reduce that flow to protect the environmentally sensitive waterways and says building a pipeline is a cleaner alternative.