The Kazakh oil pipeline operator has sent a request to its Russian counterpart to agree to transport Kazakh oil to Germany via the Russian Druzhba pipeline next year.
Bloomberg news agency stated that this could be the first step to deliver Kazakh crude oil to German refineries at a time when Germany is trying to find alternatives to Russian supplies, after pledging to stop importing Russian oil by the end of this year in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February.
Kaztrans Oil Pipeline Company said it had asked its Russian counterpart Transneft to transport about 1.2 million tons of Kazakh crude to Germany via Belarus and Poland.
Spokesman for Russia’s Transneft, Igor Dyumin said that the request can be implemented from a technical point of view, but it needs the approval of the Russian Energy Ministry first, adding that they have not yet received any request from oil companies in Kazakhstan to transfer their oil to Germany.
The Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that Russia is ready to support Kazakhstan’s request to transport crude oil to Germany via the Druzhba line.
