Kazakhstan asks Russia to resume oil transit to German refinery via Druzhba pipeline
Kazakhstan has formally asked Russia to restore shipments of Kazakh crude oil through the Druzhba pipeline to a refinery in eastern Germany, six months after Moscow suspended the transit route.
Kazakh Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov said at a November 4 news conference in Astana that he had personally delivered the request to Russian officials, according to Interfax and The Bell.
Kazakhstan has the technical capacity to resume shipments and is awaiting Moscow’s response, the minister said.
Russia halted the transit of Kazakh oil to Germany on May 1, citing unspecified technical constraints. The affected route runs through the northern branch of the Druzhba pipeline, which does not cross Ukrainian territory.
Akkenzhenov previously suggested, citing unofficial information, that Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure might have contributed to the disruption. Russia has not publicly confirmed that explanation.
Before the suspension, Kazakhstan supplied crude to the Schwedt refinery in northeastern Germany, which produces approximately 90% of the gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel used in Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg.
Kazakh oil accounted for an estimated 20–30% of the refinery’s crude requirements. Germany’s Economy Ministry said in the spring that the interruption did not threaten national fuel supplies, although the refinery would have to operate at reduced capacity.
Kazakhstan shipped 1.02 million metric tons of oil to Germany through Druzhba before the route was suspended this year, compared with 2.1 million tons in 2025. It had planned to export around 3 million tons through the pipeline in 2026.
The country redirected the disrupted volumes through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium and Russia’s Baltic port of Ust-Luga.
The Schwedt refinery is majority-owned by German subsidiaries of Russia’s Rosneft, which have been under German government control since 2022. Berlin moved to make that arrangement long-term earlier this year, and Rosneft challenged the decision in court.
The refinery has also explored alternative supply routes through the Polish port of Gdańsk and Germany’s Rostock.
Kazakhstan remains heavily dependent on Russian infrastructure for oil exports, with roughly 80% of its crude shipped through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium to Russia’s Black Sea coast.