Russia Halts Oil Flow to Germany

Russia will stop moving Kazakh oil to Germany through the Druzhba pipeline on May 1, cutting a key supply line to the Schwedt refinery near Berlin. (reuters.com) Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said the volumes will be redirected to other routes because of “current technical capacities.” Germany’s economy ministry said it had been told of the halt and was working on replacement supplies. (aljazeera.com) The disruption hits PCK Schwedt, a refinery about 100 kilometers northeast of Berlin that supplies most of the capital’s fuel. Reuters reported Kazakh crude accounts for about 17% of the plant’s feedstock. (dw.com) Druzhba is one of Europe’s main Soviet-era oil arteries, carrying crude west across Belarus and Poland into Germany. Berlin stopped taking Russian crude after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and turned to Kazakhstan to keep Schwedt running. (reuters.com) The timing lands in a wider energy shock. Germany on April 22 cut its 2026 growth forecast to 0.5% from 1.0% and raised its inflation outlook, citing higher oil and gas prices linked to the Iran war. (reuters.com) Berlin says this stoppage should not trigger shortages. The economy ministry said existing options would be used to protect fuel supply, and Economy Minister Katherina Reiche pointed to deliveries through the ports of Gdansk and Rostock. (reuters.com) Kazakhstan had increased these shipments before the cutoff. KazTransOil said it sent 730,000 tonnes to Germany in the first quarter of 2026, after exports through Druzhba reached about 2.15 million metric tonnes in 2025, roughly 43,000 barrels a day. (interfax.kz) (reuters.com) Schwedt has been politically sensitive since Germany placed Rosneft Deutschland assets under trusteeship in 2022 to keep the refinery operating after the break with Russian oil. The May 1 cutoff tests the backup system Berlin built to replace Russian barrels without losing fuel supply to the capital. (reuters.com)