Russia will no longer transport oil from Kazakhstan to Germany via its Druzhba pipeline from May, the Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday, citing Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
Novak, who is responsible for energy issues, said that Kazakh oil supplies delivered to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline, which has been repeatedly attacked during the conflict in Ukraine, would be redirected from May 1, citing “current technical capabilities,” according to Interfax.
The deputy prime minister said that he had informed the Kazakh side of this during talks last week.
Kazakh Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov had previously said that Russia was planning for no oil to transit via the Druzhba pipeline and on to the PCK refinery in the eastern German state of Brandenburg.
Akkenzhenov said Moscow is blaming technical difficulties in transporting oil from Kazakhstan and speculated this could be linked to recent attacks on Russian infrastructure.
Novak also made it clear that Russia had no interest in acting as a transit country, saying that Germany has been doing without Russian oil, “which means everything is fine on their end.”
Kazakh oil has been essential for Germany in reducing its dependency on Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Kazakhstan does not plan to reduce oil production and could redistribute supplies through other routes, Akkenzhenov stated on the sidelines of an environmental forum in Astana, the Kazakh capital.
The German subsidiary of Russia’s Rosneft oil agency has received notification from Kazakh partners that difficulties are to expected in supplies from May, sources told dpa.
A Rosneft Germany spokesman told dpa: “We must examine how we can secure replacement supplies if necessary, so that PCK can continue to operate at full capacity.”
The Druzhba pipeline has been the source of controversy in the European Union in recent months, with Ukraine insisting that the transit of oil to Hungary and Slovakia was interrupted due to Russian attacks, prompting Budapest to block EU funds for Kiev.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Tuesday that the pipeline has been repaired. On Wednesday the EU agreed to unlock a €90 billion ($106 billion) loan to Ukraine and impose new sanctions on Russia, after Hungary dropped its months-long opposition, following the April 12 election that pro-Russian Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán lost.