Crossroads Asia | Economy | Central Asia

Russia to Halt Shipments of Kazakh Oil to Germany on May 1

“There have been no official statements from the Russian side yet, but from unofficial sources, we know it’s true,” Kazakh Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov said of the impending stoppage.

According to unofficial sources – albeit sources officials appear to believe – Russia plans to stop the transit of oil from Kazakhstan to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline.

Speaking on the sidelines of Astana’s Regional Environmental Summit, Kazakh Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov said he’d received news of the apparent looming suspension of Kazakh oil shipments from unofficial sources.

“There have been no official statements from the Russian side yet, but from unofficial sources, we know it’s true,” he said. “As of May, we [will] have zero transit through Atyrau-Samara, onward to the Druzhba pipeline and onward to the Schwedt refinery.”

On April 21, Reuters broke the news in a report citing three industry sources who claimed that starting on May 1, Russia would stop Kazakh oil from reaching Germany through the Druzhba pipeline. 

Ironically, the pipeline’s name means “friendship.” It stretches over more than 4,000 kilometers from eastern Russia to Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, and Germany.

In 2025, Kazakhstan exported 2.146 million metric tons of oil, or around 43,000 barrels per ​day, through the Druzhba pipeline to Germany, a 44 percent increase over 2024. The oil is processed by Germany’s ​PCK refinery in Schwedt, one of the country’s largest and a critical node supplying fuel to the Berlin metropolitan area.

Kazakhstan began supplying the PCK refinery in February 2023 after reaching an agreement with Transneft, Russia’s state-owned oil pipeline company, to use the Druzhba pipeline. Kazakhstan and Germany had settled a deal in December 2022 for Astana to supply Germany with 1.2 million tons in 2023, but Russian allowances were necessary given the basic geography. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the PCK refinery had imported oil from Russia directly.

In the years since, supplies have increased but also been occasionally interrupted by Ukrainian strikes on Russian segments of the pipeline network. 

Akkenzhenov, in his April 22 comments, suggested that technical difficulties may be the reason for the impending halt. “This is most likely related to the recent attacks on Russian infrastructure. I’m making that assumption,” he said.

When asked about the report, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said, “I don’t know about that. You need to contact our relevant companies. We’ll try to clarify the situation, but I’m not prepared to give you any answers.”

According to Reuters, “A complete halt would remove about 17% of the up to 12 million metric tons of oil a year processed” at the PCK refinery. 

For Kazakhstan, the direct impact is far less serious. Akkenzhenov said Kazakhstan had the ability to redistribute the volume intended for Germany across other routes.

Some 80 percent of Kazakhstan’s oil exports are pumped through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which connects the Tengiz oil field on the northeastern coast of the Caspian Sea to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.

That route has also suffered from Ukrainian attacks. Earlier this year, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States said that Kyiv had received a formal demarche from the United States related to its attacks on CPC oil terminals in Novorossiysk.

The crisis in the Middle East, namely the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz since late February, has also opened up new potential markets for Kazakhstan. Earlier this month, the South Korean president’s chief of staff, Kang Hoon-sik, stopped off in Kazakhstan amid a trip that also touched down in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar – a tour to secure oil supplies. Kang said Kazakhstan would supply 18 million barrels of crude oil to South Korea.

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According to unofficial sources – albeit sources officials appear to believe – Russia plans to stop the transit of oil from Kazakhstan to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline.

Speaking on the sidelines of Astana’s Regional Environmental Summit, Kazakh Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov said he’d received news of the apparent looming suspension of Kazakh oil shipments from unofficial sources.

“There have been no official statements from the Russian side yet, but from unofficial sources, we know it’s true,” he said. “As of May, we [will] have zero transit through Atyrau-Samara, onward to the Druzhba pipeline and onward to the Schwedt refinery.”

On April 21, Reuters broke the news in a report citing three industry sources who claimed that starting on May 1, Russia would stop Kazakh oil from reaching Germany through the Druzhba pipeline. 

Ironically, the pipeline’s name means “friendship.” It stretches over more than 4,000 kilometers from eastern Russia to Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, and Germany.

In 2025, Kazakhstan exported 2.146 million metric tons of oil, or around 43,000 barrels per ​day, through the Druzhba pipeline to Germany, a 44 percent increase over 2024. The oil is processed by Germany’s ​PCK refinery in Schwedt, one of the country’s largest and a critical node supplying fuel to the Berlin metropolitan area.

Kazakhstan began supplying the PCK refinery in February 2023 after reaching an agreement with Transneft, Russia’s state-owned oil pipeline company, to use the Druzhba pipeline. Kazakhstan and Germany had settled a deal in December 2022 for Astana to supply Germany with 1.2 million tons in 2023, but Russian allowances were necessary given the basic geography. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the PCK refinery had imported oil from Russia directly.

In the years since, supplies have increased but also been occasionally interrupted by Ukrainian strikes on Russian segments of the pipeline network. 

Akkenzhenov, in his April 22 comments, suggested that technical difficulties may be the reason for the impending halt. “This is most likely related to the recent attacks on Russian infrastructure. I’m making that assumption,” he said.

When asked about the report, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said, “I don’t know about that. You need to contact our relevant companies. We’ll try to clarify the situation, but I’m not prepared to give you any answers.”

According to Reuters, “A complete halt would remove about 17% of the up to 12 million metric tons of oil a year processed” at the PCK refinery. 

For Kazakhstan, the direct impact is far less serious. Akkenzhenov said Kazakhstan had the ability to redistribute the volume intended for Germany across other routes.

Some 80 percent of Kazakhstan’s oil exports are pumped through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which connects the Tengiz oil field on the northeastern coast of the Caspian Sea to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.

That route has also suffered from Ukrainian attacks. Earlier this year, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States said that Kyiv had received a formal demarche from the United States related to its attacks on CPC oil terminals in Novorossiysk.

The crisis in the Middle East, namely the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz since late February, has also opened up new potential markets for Kazakhstan. Earlier this month, the South Korean president’s chief of staff, Kang Hoon-sik, stopped off in Kazakhstan amid a trip that also touched down in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar – a tour to secure oil supplies. Kang said Kazakhstan would supply 18 million barrels of crude oil to South Korea.

Catherine Putz is managing editor of The Diplomat.

Kazakhstan energy sector

Kazakhstan oil exports

Kazakhstan-Germany relations

Russian invasion of Ukraine

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