Germany examines oil route via Poland

Germany is negotiating with Poland about possible replacement deliveries for the PCK Schwedt refinery. The background to this is Russia's announcement that it will no longer transport Kazakh crude oil supplies to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline from May 1. According to a report by Reuters, a spokesperson for the German Ministry of Economics stated that talks with Poland were continuing. He did not give any details. Supply contracts are a matter for the companies involved, but the German government is monitoring the process closely. Gdansk as a possible alternative route A temporary supply via the Polish port of Gdansk is being discussed. From there, oil could be forwarded to Schwedt via existing infrastructure. However, Poland attaches conditions to such deliveries. According to Bloomberg, Paweł Łukaszewicz from the Polish state pipeline operator PERN explained that the recipient of the crude oil would have to be one of the refinery's non-Russian shareholders - i.e. Shell or Eni. The Schwedt refinery is partly controlled by Eni and Shell. The Russian group Rosneft's share of more than 54% has been under the trusteeship of the German government since 2022. According to Reuters, a spokesperson for the Polish energy ministry said that Poland had the technical capability to handle emergency deliveries to Schwedt. However, whether larger quantities are possible depends on operational, logistical and market-related factors. Kazakhstan diverts volumes The Schwedt refinery, which supplies the greater Berlin area with fuels, among others, must now look for alternative sources of supply. Previously, Kazakh crude oil supplies also came to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline. In 2025, these deliveries amounted to 2.146 million tons, around 43,000 barrels per day. This was an increase of 44% compared to 2024, with deliveries already reaching 730,000 tons in the first quarter of 2026. Kazakhstan now wants to redirect the quantities originally intended for Germany to the global markets via other routes and Russian territory. This was reported by Azattyq with reference to the Kazakh Ministry of Energy. The changes are of an operational nature and have no impact on Kazakhstan's production or export targets. The post Germany examines oil route via Poland appeared first on ostwirtschaft.de.