From January, Germany will not buy oil from Russia. It will be replaced with raw materials from Kazakhstan. The only problem is transport. The Germans and Kazakhs want it to be pumped through the Druzhba pipeline. The Kremlin seems to agree, Rzeczpospolita reports.
It seems that the Russian authorities are not against Kazakhstani oil being supplied to the German Schwedt refinery through the Druzhba pipeline, through which Germany used to receive oil from Russia. As reported by the Interfax agency, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters in Moscow that Kazakhstan’s application would be approved.
After Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the European Union decided to abandon Russian energy resources. Germany and Poland announced that from January they will stop using Russian oil supplied by the Druzhba oil pipeline. It is planned to replace part of the supplies with Kazakh oil. It is planned to deliver about 20 thousand tons of oil from Kazakhstan’s Karachaganak field to Germany.
Kazakh oil is destined for the Schwedt refinery in northeastern Brandenburg, which was previously supplied with Russian oil from the state-owned company Rosneft via the Druzhba pipeline. Until recently, Rosneft owned a controlling stake in the refinery, which was recently transferred to Germany.
Kazakh pipeline company Kaztransoil has already applied to send 1.2 million tons of oil to Germany next year.
Kazakhstan can export raw materials in two ways: either using Russian pipeline infrastructure or transporting it by sea across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, from where it can be sent by pipeline to Turkey or the Georgian Black Sea coast.
The Druzhba pipeline runs from Russia through Poland to Schwedt and has a capacity of 2.5 million barrels of crude oil per day. To compensate for the loss of Russian supplies, in early December Federal Economy Minister Robert Habek signed a declaration of intent with the Polish government: crude oil will also be sent to the PCK refinery through a pipeline system in the port of Gdańsk. No specific steps were done yet.
