The oil supplies to Germany from Kazakhstan may replace the imports via the Naftoport in Gdańsk. This may indicate that Germany will yet again become dependant on the East, which, due to pipeline infrastructure, is influenced by Moscow. These deliveries are mainly important for the German refinery Schwedt, to which oil is also supplied by the Naftoport in Gdańsk -writes Aleksandra Fedorska, editor at BiznesAlert.pl.
The visit of the president of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev to Berlin is related to the supply of oil from Kazakhstan to Germany. It is important mostly for the German refinery in Schwedt, to which oil is also supplied by the Naftoport in Gdańsk. The increase in oil imports from Kazakhstan to Schwedt may mean that Germany will again depend on supplies from the East, which due to the pipeline infrastructure is influenced by Moscow. Local politicians in Brandenburg do not agree with the actions of the Polish side and prefer to expand cooperation with Kazakhstan.
The official visit of Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev to Berlin on September 28 testifies to Germany’s desire to strengthen economic cooperation with Kazakhstan and the Central Asian region. The German government stated that the meetings with Chancellor Olaf Scholz concerned the infrastructure connecting the Central Asian region with Germany. On September 29, the presidents of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan also visited Berlin.
The supply of oil from Kazakhstan to PCK is of particular importance for Germany. The East German PCK refinery processes 10-12 million tons of oil annually. Last year, 100 percent of this raw material came from Russia and reached Germany via the Friendship Oil Pipeline through Russian and Polish territories. Since January 1, PCK has been buying oil on international markets. Almost half of deliveries are made through the oil port of Rostock. The Polish port in Gdańsk transfers to Schwedt 2-3 million tons of oil. However, the Polish side disputes the transshipment of oil ordered by the Russian Rosneft, which owns more than 54 percent of shares in the PCK refinery. Shell and Eni, which are also shareholders of the refinery, do not face such problems and can count on deliveries by sea tankers.
Tainted oil from Kazakhstan to Germany
In June, during the visit of German president Franz-Walter Steinmeier to Kazakhstan, an agreement was signed for the supply of oil to Schwedt in the amount of 100,000 tons per month, valid until the end of 2024. The raw material reaches Germany via the Friendship Pipeline, which passes through the territory of Russia, which means it needs to be approved by the Kremlin. According to the German Ministry of Economy and Climate, Russian oil is present in the pipe. But on the balance sheet, as the ministry in Berlin has determined, it is Kazakh oil, because Germany pays for it to Kazakh suppliers. Experts on oil trade, predict that deliveries from Kazakhstan to PCK under the current contract may nominally increase to 120 000 tons per month.
The Polish side disputes the supply of Kazakh oil to Germany, called KEBCO. According to information obtained by BiznesAlert.pl, lab tests in Poland showed that the oil, which is supposed to come from Kazakhstan, has a chemical composition identical to Russian oil.
If there is a further increase in the volume of oil supplies from Kazakhstan to Germany, this will happen mainly at the expense of volumes transhipped through the Naftoport in Gdańsk. In addition, Rosneft, which is the main shareholder of the refinery, is also a party that orders oil from Kazakhstan, although it does so now through a manager appointed by the German government. „The alternative is to bypass the Russians via the Naftoport, whose capabilities could be expanded thanks to adding another pipe to the Pomerania oil pipeline. It is not clear why Germans from the Schwedt refinery do not want to use this option, although the owners of the Leuna Refinery do not have this problem, and Schwedt successfully receives oil through the Naftoport in Rostock,” explains expert on the energy industry and editor-in-chief of BiznesAlert.pl Wojciech Jakóbik.
The Naftoport in Gdańsk, through which oil from all over the world reaches Poland, would significantly improve its efficiency and processing capabilities with the construction of the second strand of the Pomerania oil pipeline. The withholding of supply orders by shareholders of the Schwedt refinery acts to the detriment of the Naftoport in Gdańsk and the expansion of related infrastructure, i.e. another oil pipeline. „Without a clear declaration by Schwedt, additional expansion of oil infrastructure in Poland beyond the needs of its market will not be justified,” Jakóbik explains.
Schwedt’s Kazakh option has strong support
In the Land of Brandenburg, where Schwedt and the PCK refinery are located, support for the option of importing oil from Kazakhstan is particularly felt by regional politicians. Among them are the mayor of the Uckermark district Karina Dörk (CDU), Jens Koeppen (CDU) and the former deputy prime minister of this land Christian Görke (Die Linke), who previously did not want Germany to give up Russian oil. Karina Dörk expressed in an interview with Deutsche Welle her gratitude that Kazakhstan will increase its supplies. According to her, the supply of the Urals oil, which flows through the Friendship pipeline, is particularly beneficial because it is heavy oil from which PCK can produce asphalt. She noted that she was grateful to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, because he personally tried to get more supplies from Kazakhstan.
Upping the import from Kazakhstan is also supported by the German fuel industry, and Deutsche Welle asked for a comment on this issue. „Higher oil supplies to PCK’s refineries, also from Kazakhstan, are an important step towards further stabilizing the supply of petroleum products to the capital city region,” Alexander von Gersdorff, spokesman for the fuel and Energy Business Association, told Deutsche Welle.
Christian Görke, a member of the Bundestag, pointed out that Kazakhstan was implementing political and constitutional reforms that would stabilize the country and put it on the path of democratization. According to the former deputy prime minister of the state of Brandenburg, oil supplies from Kazakhstan were more beneficial for the Schwedt refinery than supplies through the oil port of Gdańsk. The politician mentioned CO2 emissions, which are generated by transport by tankers, and purely economic issues, which, in his opinion, speak for cooperation with Kazakhstan, to the detriment of supplies through the Polish port. „For the PCK and Germany, cooperation on energy policy with a large oil-producing country such as Kazakhstan is more important than ever, as it significantly reduces unilateral dependencies. Moreover, Kazakhstan is working on an ambitious hydrogen strategy and can become an important partner for the transformation of the PCK,” said Görke in an interview with BiznesAlert.pl. „The Polish government has repeatedly undermined the supply of Kazakh oil, which is so important to the PCK, by insinuating that it was Russian oil and calling on the German government to investigate whether Russian molecules can be found in Kazakh oil. But everyone knows that the transport of oil through the Friendship pipeline without the participation of Russian oil is technically impossible. What is important is that the money is booked in Kazakhstan,” he claimed. „Hannes Gnauck from the right-populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party also warned the German public against cooperation with Poland. However, Karina Dörk does not see any consequences for Poland in the case of larger oil supplies from Kazakhstan, as it will be still possible to transship oil in Gdańsk,” it has been said.