Since the beginning of January, Germany has stopped importing oil from Russia. The fact that refinery capacity in East Germany is now lying idle enrages the opposition. The government appeased.
After the import stop for Russian oil, the federal government expects more replacements and higher utilization of the important PCK refinery in Brandenburg. One is optimistic for timely deliveries via Danzig, with which PCK could be used up to 70 percent, according to the Federal Ministry of Economics on Wednesday. At the same time, Kazakhstan announced that it intended to deliver a first small quantity of oil to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline in January.
Germany has not imported any oil from Russia since the turn of the year because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. The PCK Schwedt in particular is therefore looking for a replacement. Currently, the refinery is only about half full with deliveries via the port of Rostock. According to the Fuels and Energy Mineral Oil Association, consumers do not have to worry for the time being. “The market is currently well supplied,” said a spokesman. So far, there is no reliable evidence of general price increases at East German gas stations.
Oil is said to come from Poland and Kazakhstan
The federal government declared in December that Poland had agreed to deliveries via Danzig. The Union and the left criticized this week that there were neither contracts nor a timetable for this. Now the Ministry of Economics said: “The talks with Poland at company level are going well, as far as we are informed. We are optimistic for a timely implementation of deliveries via the port of Gdansk to the PCK refinery in Schwedt, with which the plant is 70 percent could be utilized.”
Further quantities are said to come from Kazakhstan. The government there has declared its willingness to do so in principle. The uncertainty factor, however, is that Kazakhstan would use Russia’s Druzhba pipeline for delivery. Moscow’s approval for this has been given orally, said Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Bolat Akchulatov, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
According to him, 20,000 tons of Kazakh oil are to be pumped to Germany as early as January. Before setting the start date, however, official approval from Russia must be awaited. Measured against the demand in Schwedt, the quantity is small: the plant has so far processed 12 million tons of crude oil a year.
1.5 million tons of crude oil during the year
According to Akchulatov, Kazakhstan could deliver 1.5 million tons of crude oil to Germany in the course of the year. At most, the country can expand its exports in the direction of 6 to 7 million tons per year, he added.
Left-wing member of the Bundestag Christian Görke welcomed the message from Kazakhstan. “Why the federal government, which holds Rosneft’s shares in PCK in trust, is still not exploiting this considerable potential and thus ensuring full utilization of PCK, among other things, remains a mystery,” he explained in Berlin. It is also puzzling why these deliveries were not in the bag before the start of the embargo on January 1st.
Source: Stern

Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.