Kazakhstan may ship the first batch of 20.000 tons of oil to Germany via Russia’s Druzhba pipeline before the end of the month, Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Bolat Akchulako said on Wednesday.
In its effort to replace the Russian crude that the European Union pledged to stop buying as part of wider sanctions prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kazakhstan is willing to export up to 6 million tons of oil annually through Russia’s territory.
Akchulakov earlier said that his country would export 1.5 million tonnes of oil to Germany in 2023 and might in the future boost exports to 7 million tonnes.
Kazakh oil supplies are expected to be carried out in the direction of the oil delivery point “Adamova Zastava” and then would be transited to Germany. Moscow granted Kazakhstan permission to transport its oil to Germany through the Druzhba pipeline.
Although the oil transit of Kazakh crude via the Soviet-built “Druzhba” pipeline to German refineries remains exempt from sanctions, Germany’s refineries in Leuna and Schwedt – which are connected to the pipeline – have not ordered yet any Russian crude for this year.
This is not the first time that Kazakhstan pushes forward the expected start of Kazakh crude export. Previously on Monday, the director of the KazTransOil national company’s PR and internal communications department Shyngys Ilyasov confirmed that the batch hasn’t been shipped yet, refusing to further comment on the timeline for the start of oil exports to Germany.
Last week, Kazakh Deputy Energy Minister Askhat Khasenov said that the commercial negotiations between the supplier and the buyer are ongoing.
KazTransOil planned to supply 300,000 tonnes of Kazakh crude to Germany in Q1 2023. Although the initial plan was for the first batch to be shipped by the end of January, it was later postponed for the first half of February.
KazTransOil stressed that although it is technically possible to transport 300,000 tonnes of Kazakh crude to Germany in February 2023, the actual volumes of oil shipments depend on the bids of freight shippers.
