Russia will stop the transfer of crude oil from Kazakhstan to a major German refinery via the Druzhba pipeline in May, 2026.
This Wednesday, the German economics ministry confirmed that starting on May 1, no more crude oil will be delivered through the pipeline to Schwedt (Brandenburg), the German endpoint of the northern branch of the Druzhba pipeline and the home of one of Germany’s biggest refineries.
According to media reports, the halt was ordered by the Russian energy ministry, although the Russian Government has not officially confirmed this.
A ministry spokesperson said fuel supply security was not at risk due to the delivery stop: “The suspension of Kazakh oil supplies to the refinery does not ultimately jeopardise the security of supply of petroleum products in Germany, even if the Schwedt refinery were to have to operate at reduced capacity.”
He added that the concrete consequences of the delivery stop were being monitored.
Local politicians seemed more alarmed by the news.
Brandeburg’s state Prime Minister, Dietmar Woidke (Social Democratic Party, SPD) said Germany’s federal government and the leaders of its 16 federal states should hold a conference to agree on measures to maintain energy security.
Brandenburg’s former finance minister from the left-wing Die Linke party, Christian Görke, called the situation “serious”, telling newspaper Berliner Zeitung yesterday: “This is a serious, even dramatic situation for the Schwedt refinery and the energy supply for large parts of Germany … The 2.6 million tonnes of heavy crude from Kazakhstan are the lifeline for the refinery and hard to replace.”
The Schwedt refinery is a major producer of diesel, petrol, kerosene and heating oil for eastern Germany and Berlin.
The Kazakh oil accounts for 20 to 25 per cent of the refinery’s crude input with oversea deliveries from the US, Norway and the Middle East making up the rest.
The fuel processing facility is owned by PCK, originally a joint venture between Shell and Russian state energy company Rosneft.
In September 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Rosneft’s German assets – including the stake in PCK – were put under administration by the then-German government to maintain energy security.
Rosneft unsuccessfully tried to challenge the change of control in court. In 2023, the German Federal Administrative Court ruled that the measure was lawful.
