The first shipment of Kazakh crude oil is destined to pass to Germany within 15 days, via the Druzhba pipeline, which was bombed – minutes ago – by a missile heading from Ukraine, which may disrupt the export plan in the coming weeks.
Today, Wednesday (February 1, 2023), the Kazakh Ministry of Energy said that it will deliver the first shipment of oil to Germany, via the Druzhba pipeline passing from Russian territory, during the first half of this month, according to Reuters.
The ministry did not specify a specific date for the delivery of the first shipments of Kazakh oil during this period, only indicating that it was set in the first half of February 2023, according to what was monitored by the specialized energy platform.
The Drogba line was bombed by a Ukrainian missile
Meanwhile, one side of the Druzhba pipeline was hit by a missile heading from Ukraine that landed on the Novozybkov plant in the Russian city of Bryansk, according to breaking news from express.
The Druzhba pipeline is one of the largest oil transportation lines in the world, with a length of about 4,000 km and passing from the city of Almetyevsk in eastern Russia to Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany.
The capacity of this line is approximately 1.4 million barrels per day, and it is one of the largest lines that transport a third of Russian oil exports, in addition to part of the geographically confined Kazakh oil.
Moscow issued permission to cross
On January 13, 2023, Russia expressed its official approval to transport 300,000 tons (2.13 million barrels) of Kazakh oil to Germany through the Druzhba pipeline, during the first quarter of 2023.
The local company, Gas Transoil, confirmed that it had received confirmation of the transit from the Russian Energy Ministry on this date, according to the local Astana Times website.
Moscow’s approval to transport Kazakh oil through the Druzhba pipeline, which is operated by the Russian company “Transneft”, comes within the framework of the agreement signed between the two countries in June 2022.
A sample of Kazakhstani oil was scheduled to be exported in the range of 20,000 tons (142,000 barrels) during January 2023, but it appears that delivery will be delayed by two weeks, according to the updated Ministry of Energy statement, which set delivery to mid-February 2023.
Germany’s negotiations with Kazakhstan
Berlin has entered into negotiations with Nur-Sultan (the new name for the capital of Kazakhstan) since September 2022, to purchase alternative quantities of Kazakh oil to compensate the Schwedt refinery in Brandenburg for the banned Russian supplies.
Russian oil exports to Europe have been facing a complete ban since December 5, 2022, and Russian diesel exports are preparing for a new ban, starting from February 5, 2023.
European and American sanctions excluded transportation and export operations from the Caspian Sea Pipeline Association; So that global oil-exporting countries, such as Kazakhstan, are not affected.
Kazakhstan’s Gas Monai Gas supplies oil to East German states, including Berlin, according to the specialized energy platform.
Why does Kazakhstan need Russia?
Kazakhstan is the largest landlocked country in the world, that is, it does not overlook beaches, and it has no sea outlet, despite its area expanding to 2.7 million square kilometers.
As a result of this geographical situation, Kazakhstan is forced to use the Caspian Sea and Druzhba pipelines, passing through Russian territory, to transit its oil exports to Europe and world markets.
The Caspian Sea Pipeline is run by a consortium of Russian, Kazakh, American and British companies, through an entity called the “Caspian Sea Pipeline Consortium”.
The Caspian Sea pipeline accounts for 1% of global oil supplies, most of which come from Kazakhstan through a specialized terminal on the Russian side of the Black Sea, according to the specialized energy platform.
The volume of oil transported through this pipeline, during the year 2022, amounted to approximately 58.7 million tons (about 420 million barrels), including 52.2 thousand tons (370 million barrels) from Kazakhstan.
* (a ton equals 7.1 barrels)
During the first year of the Ukrainian war, the line faced disturbances in the transportation of crude oil, due to maintenance problems at the oil-carrying station.
Kazakhstan’s supplies were also affected by the huge explosion that occurred in the Kazakh field of Tengiz in July 2022, which is the second largest oil field in the world, after the Saudi Ghawar field.
The Minister of Energy expects an increase in exports
The Director General of the Caspian Sea Pipelines Federation, Nikolai Gorban, expected an increase in the expected supplies through the pipeline during the year 2023, with the completion of the capacity expansion works.
Kazakhstan’s deputy energy minister confirmed these estimates in a recent statement, in which he indicated his country’s readiness to increase oil exports through the Caspian Sea pipeline union system by 8.7%, to reach 56.5 million tons in 2023, according to Reuters.
Kazakhstan is the second largest oil producer in the officially independent republics of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
The OPEC member country’s capacity reaches 1.5 million barrels per day, while Russia surpasses it by a huge margin of 10 million barrels per day, according to the specialized energy platform.
Kazakhstan’s crude oil exports amounted to approximately 1.32 million barrels per day in 2021, compared to 1.42 million barrels per day in 2020, according to the specialized energy platform.
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