From May 1, Russia will stop sending oil from Kazakhstan to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said.
The measure directly affects the PCK Schwedt refinery, near Berlin, which accounts for a large part of the region’s fuel supply and has around 17% of its oil coming from these Kazakh shipments.
Novak attributed the decision to “technical reasons”, without giving further details.
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In 2025, oil exports from Kazakhstan to Germany via Druzhba totaled 2.146 million tons (somewhere around 43 thousand barrels per day), an increase of 44% compared to 2024. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, there were already 730 thousand tons, which shows the weight of this route for the German derivatives market.
The German government, which came to control Schwedt after, in practice, taking the Russian Rosneft’s stake in 2022, guarantees that there is no immediate risk of shortages.
The strategy is to compensate for the cut using other import routes, including a possible increase in deliveries to the refinery through the port of Gdansk, in Poland, in addition to taking advantage of available capacity in alternatives that are already in operation.
Still, Germany’s energy regulator, the Federal Network Agency, admits that price pressures could emerge in some regions. The body, which acts as administrator of Rosneft’s operations in the country, states that it is in contact with the company to reduce these effects.
Rosneft remains Schwedt’s main legal shareholder, with 54.17%, alongside Shell (37.5%) and Eni (8.33%).
