Oil deliveries to Germany via Druzhba pipeline to start: Kazakhstan
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The Druzhba pipeline network, which pumps oil from the Urals to Europe through a northern branch via Poland and a southern branch via Ukraine, began in the 1960s.
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Druzhba oil pipeline (AFP)
Kazakh Energy Ministry Bolat Akchulakov announced, on Wednesday, that Kazakhstan will begin delivering oil to Germany via Russia's Druzhba pipeline in the upcoming few days.
The Minister expressed optimism that the first batch of oil would be pumped via the pipeline as early as Wednesday.
"I really hope it [oil] goes today. If yesterday the procedures were finished and results were summarized," Akchulakov said.
He further added that there were no issues with the start of shipments.
It is worth noting that the Druzhba pipeline network, which pumps oil from the Urals to Europe through a northern branch via Poland and a southern branch via Ukraine, began in the 1960s.
It is the world's longest oil pipeline and one of the biggest oil pipeline networks in the world. It carries oil some 4,000 kilometers from the eastern part of European Russia to points in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Germany, but mainly supplies the Schwedt and Leuna refineries in Germany.
Last month, Kazakh Energy Minister Bolat Akchulakov announced that the total amount of oil delivered to Germany in 2023 via the Druzhba pipeline could be up to 1.5 million tonnes.
Read more: Energy crisis forces Germans to find heating alternatives: NYT
If Druzhba supplies are disrupted, Germany's Schwedt refinery, which serves Berlin, will suffer the most because it has few other choices for meeting its crude needs.
Under European Union sanctions, the German government aimed to wean off Russian oil imports by the end of 2022. But, Russia remained its leading supplier in the first seven months of 2022, accounting for little more than 30% of oil imports.
As Germany seeks alternate supplies for Schwedt, Druzhba could play a role in supplying oil through the Polish port of Gdansk.
The German government has been in talks with Kazakhstan to obtain oil to feed Schwedt, but that oil would also have to flow to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline.
