Russian oil monopoly receives orders from Germany, Poland for 2023

Russia's Transneft has received requests from Poland and Germany for oil in 2023, the state oil pipeline monopoly's head told Rossiya-24 TV, adding that supplies via the Druzhba pipeline's southern spur are expected to hold steady next year.

The EU has pledged to stop buying Russian oil via maritime routes from December 5, with Western nations also imposing price caps on Russian crude oil, but the Druzhba pipeline remains exempt from sanctions, Reuters informs.

Transneft's comments are at odds with suggestions last month that Poland aimed to abandon a deal to buy Russian crude.

Sources familiar with the talks had told Reuters that Poland was seeking German support for EU sanctions on the Polish-German section of the Druzhba pipeline so that Warsaw could abandon a deal to buy Russian oil next year without paying penalties.

"They announced that they would not take oil from Russia from Jan. 1. And now we have received requests from Polish consumers: give us 3 million tonnes next year, and 360,000 tonnes for December, and Germany has already submitted a request for the first quarter," Transneft head Nikolay Tokarev said on December 20.

He also didn't rule out swap operations with Kazakhstan in supplying oil to refineries in Germany.

Polish refiner PKN Orlen said on December 20 it will not extend a contract for Russian oil which expires in January 2023, while a second long-term agreement for Russian crude will cease to be implemented once sanctions are in place.

A German economy ministry spokesperson said reports that Germany had ordered Russian crude oil were false and the mineral oil companies at the eastern German refineries in Leuna and Schwedt are no longer ordering Russian crude for the next year.

Berlin aims to eliminate Russian oil imports by the end of the year and has for months been working with Poland to try to secure supply for Schwedt, which provides 90% of Berlin's fuel.

Germany's economy ministry is optimistic that Kazakh oil, which would come through the Druzhba pipeline via Poland, can help supplement replacement crude oil shipments for Schwedt.