Germany Confirms It Won't Purchase Russian Pipeline Oil Next Year

Germany has rejected a claim that it plans to buy Russian oil next year.

• CEO of Russia’s oil pipeline operator Transneft said it had received requests for supplies in the first quarter of 2023. Germany said that the pipeline capacity is to be used to import crude oil from Kazakhstan.
• Germany have previously stated the intention to halt imports of Russian pipeline crude by the end of this year.
• The Leuna and Schwedt refineries have historically been dependent on Druzhba pipeline imports from Russia but the aim is to secure future imports from Kazakhstan instead. An agreement for supply from Kazakhstan has not yet been finalized with the added complication that barrels would need to the sent through the Russian pipeline.
• “Reports that Germany had ordered Russian crude oil are false,” a spokeswoman for the German economy ministry said. “The mineral oil companies at the Leuna and Schwedt refineries will no longer be ordering Russian crude oil in the new year.”