According to the government, Kazakhstan has received permission from Moscow to use the Russian pipeline infrastructure for oil exports to Germany. “We have verbal confirmation,” Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Bolat Akchulatov said on Wednesday, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency.
According to him, 20,000 tons of Kazakh oil could be pumped to Germany as early as January. To determine the exact start date of deliveries, however, we still need to wait for official approval from Russia.
Germany has not imported Russian oil since the beginning of the year due to the war of aggression against Ukraine ordered by Kremlin head Vladimir Putin and the resulting sanctions against Moscow. After the imports of Russian tankers, the acceptance of deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline was also stopped from 1 January.
The PCK refinery in Schwedt (Uckermark) in particular is therefore looking for alternatives to Russian oil. The refinery is important for East Germany’s supply. The Federal Ministry of Economy recently announced that a delivery of Kazakh oil to the PCK refinery is scheduled for January. A tender is currently underway in Kazakhstan.
According to Akchulatov, Kazakhstan can deliver 1.5 million tons of crude oil to Germany during the year. At most, the country can expand its exports in the direction of 6-7 million tons a year, he added.
In late December, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak announced that the Russian leadership was in principle ready to make the “Druzhba” pipeline available for the export of Kazakh oil. The “Druzhba” pipeline was built from 1959 to 1964 and runs in three sections from Russian territory to Western Europe. The northern seam runs through Poland to Germany as far as the Schwedt refinery.
Broadcast: Antennae Brandenburg, 01/11/2023, 09:30
