Elene Khoshtaria: “In 2021, Russia was the third largest petroleum product exporter to Georgia whilst Russia has become the largest oil exporter for Georgia during the war.”
Verdict: FactCheck concludes that Elene Khoshtaria’s statement is MOSTLY TRUE.
Resume: The total value of Georgia’s oil and petroleum product import in 2021 was USD 822,573.7 thousand and imports from Russia accounted for 16.4% of this amount. In 2021, it was only Turkmenistan which exported more oil and petroleum products to Georgia than Russia with 23.3% of the share. Therefore, Russia was ranked the 2nd in Georgia’s total petroleum product imports in 2021.
In regard to this year, the growth of petroleum product imports from Russia started from March based on the statistics of different months. It already accounted for nearly half of the total oil imports in June which means that Russia is indeed currently the top exporter of petroleum products to Georgia. This is particularly noteworthy in light of Russia’s war against Ukraine when the entire civilised world seeks to curb economic dependency on Russia whereas the picture is the absolute opposite in Georgia. In particular, Russia’s share in the import of petroleum products has increased by 26 percentage points in the last few months, something which has raised questions.
Russia was the largest exporter of petroleum products to Georgia in both 2019 and 2020. Therefore, this is not the first time when Russia is the top exporter of oil to Georgia. However, Russia’s share in Georgia’s imports has increased substantially in the past months and more than half of Georgia’s petroleum imports in June came from Russia.
Therefore, Elene Khoshtaria’s statement is MOSTLY TRUE.
Analysis
Elene Khoshtaria, Leader of the Droa political party, spoke about issue of importing oil and petroleum products from Russia and stated: “In 2021, Russia was the third largest petroleum product exporter to Georgia and has become the largest oil exporter for Georgia during the war… As compared to April, the import of Russian oil increased by 30% in May.”
Statistical data of petroleum product imports of the past years are analysed below in order to understand the extent to which the import of petroleum products from Russia has increased.
Table 1: Import of Oil and Petroleum Products in 2012-2021 (USD Thousand)
Source: Foreign Trade Portal
According to the statistical data, Georgia’s dependence on Russia in terms of petroleum products was the highest in 2019 and accounted for 26.4% of total import. In 2021, Russia’s share in imported petroleum products was 16.4%. The largest volume of petroleum products last year was imported from Turkmenistan with a total value of USD 191,979.7 thousand which accounts for 23.3% of the total import. After Russia and Turkmenistan, Romania and Azerbaijan were third and fourth largest exporters of petroleum products to Georgia with USD 128,477.4 thousand (16.3%) and USD 133,805.3 thousand (15.6%), respectively. Therefore, only Turkmenistan exported more petroleum products to Georgia in 2021. Consequently, Russia was the second in Georgia’s total petroleum product imports. In regard to the second part of Elene Khoshtaria’s statement, we would analyse the monthly figures of petroleum product imports for this year and compare the same figures of 2021 to verify its accuracy.
Table 2: Import of Oil and Petroleum Products in the First Six Months of 2022 (USD Thousand)
Source: Foreign Trade Portal
Given the statistical data, import of petroleum products from Russia has been growing monthly this year. If we compare this year’s figures to the same figures of the previous year, we will see that the growth of petroleum product imports from Russia started from March and increased six fold in June, accounting for more than half of the total import. In regard to a comparison of April and May of this year, the import of petroleum products from Russia increased 1.7 times in May as compared to April which constitutes a 73% growth. Therefore, this part of Elene Khoshtaria’s statement is also true. The growth of petroleum product import from Russia is particularly important in light of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine when the entire world seeks to curb economic dependency on Russia. At the same time, there is an absolutely opposite picture in Georgia as the import of petroleum products from Russia is on the rise and accounted for half of the total import in June. Russia was the largest exporter of petroleum products to Georgia in both 2019 and 2020. Therefore, this is not the first time when Russia is the top exporter of oil to Georgia. However, Russia’s share in Georgia’s imports has increased substantially in the past months and more than half of Georgia’s petroleum imports in June came from Russia.
