Russia to ship Kazakh oil to Germany via Druzhba pipeline

Russia's Transneft said on January 31 that oil shipments from Kazakhstan to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline, exempt from Western sanctions, will begin in February.

The company said it had agreed a contract to supply 20,000 tonnes of Kazakh oil to Germany in February, Reuters reports, citing the RIA Novosti news agency.

The TASS news agency also said it had supplied 500,000 tonnes of oil to Poland via the Druzhba pipeline.

The European Union has pledged to stop buying Russian oil via maritime routes from Dec. 5 as part of wider sanctions over Ukraine.

The Soviet-built Druzhba pipeline remains exempt from sanctions, but Germany's refineries in Leuna and Schwedt, connected to the pipeline, have not ordered any Russian crude for this year.

Transneft said in December that Kazakhstan's KazTransOil had requested 1.2 million tonnes of capacity on the Druzhba pipeline for 2023 to facilitate extra oil shipments to Germany.