Kazakhstan will reroute 260,000 tons of crude oil originally destined for Germany’s Schwedt refinery through Russian export ports after disruptions to the Druzhba pipeline, Kazakhstan Today reported on Tuesday, citing the energy ministry.
The news agency cited a ministry representative as saying that 100,000 tons would be shipped via the Baltic port of Ust-Luga, while 160,000 tons would be transported through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) system.
The CPC pipeline carries oil from the Tengiz field in north-western Kazakhstan to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. In both cases, the crude would be loaded onto tankers for onward shipment by sea.
The move is aimed at maintaining export stability and ensuring uninterrupted supplies to global markets, the ministry said, without specifying whether the cargoes would still reach Schwedt.
Kazakhstan has until now delivered crude to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline, which runs through Russia. Supplies totalled 2.1 million tons in 2025 and were expected to rise to around 3 million tons this year, largely for the PCK Schwedt refinery near Berlin.
Russia will halt transit of Kazakh oil through Druzhba from May 1, citing technical issues, but has not said when flows might resume.
Germany is exploring alternative supply routes, including via Poland’s port of Gdańsk, the economy ministry in Berlin said.
“We are in talks with Poland to assess whether short-term, temporary replacement supplies via Gdańsk are possible,” the ministry said, adding that the government stood ready to support the Schwedt refinery in substituting the missing crude.
The ministry said the absence of Kazakh deliveries would not ultimately threaten Germany’s fuel supply security, although the Schwedt refinery may have to operate at reduced capacity.