Papers please! Poles want Germans to prove Kazah oil’s origin

Poles are concerned that Russians may use the supply of Kazah oil via the Friendship Pipeline that goes through Poland to Germany to bypass sanctions. Therefore, as part of the talks on putting sanctions on the pipe, they want access to documents that will confirm the origin of the oil.

Germany receives Kazakh oil through the Friendship Pipeline (Rus. Druzhba) stretching from Russia through Belarus and Poland (northern thread). In addition, the southern thread runs through Ukraine and Slovakia to the Czech Republic, and is supplied by refineries still using Russian oil, including the Czech refinery in Litvinov operated by Poland’s PKN Orlen.

“We are still working on the final shape of the sanctions legislation,” stated the ministry in relation to the preparation of the eleventh package of EU sanctions, to which Poland and Germany want to add an embargo on the supply of Russian oil through the northern thread of the Friendship Oil Pipeline.

“In accordance with Polish demands, the issue of an embargo on the import of Russian pipeline oil via the northern thread of the Druzhba was introduced into the draft EU Council regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) no. 833/2014 on restrictive measures in connection with Russia’s actions destabilizing the situation in Ukraine as part of the work on the 11th package of sanctions,” said the Climate Ministry in response to questions from BiznesAlert.pl. “As part of these discussions the German side has requested that the transport of Kazah oil, the so-called KEBCO, be still made possible via the northern section of the Friendship pipeline,” the ministry added.

“The Polish side wishes to emphasize that, taking into account the similarity of the physico-chemical parameters of Russian and Kazakh oil supplied in recent years via the Friendship pipeline, it is necessary to present guarantees of the actual origin of KEBCO oil and relevant laboratory tests of this oil, documenting the origin of oil from Kazakh deposits, in order to avoid circumventing sanctions by supplying Russian oil as part of KEBCO supplies,” the Poles warned.

Another hot topic is deliveries via Poland’s naftoport for the Schwedt refinery. Poles do not want to collect oil ordered by Russia’s Rosneft, even after its shares were put under a trusteeship. They also demand the derusification of Schwedt. They do collect orders for Shell and ENI, which are also shareholders at Schwedt and the nearby Leuna refinery in eastern Germany. “During the last meeting at the naftoport with Minister Michael Kellener we addressed the issue of further cooperation in the area of improving the process of oil supplies through naftoport in Gdańsk to Germany,” the Ministry confirmed. BiznesAlert.pl reported on the meeting, during which Saudi oil for the Schwedt refinery arrived.

In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Poland and Germany decided not to import oil from Russia. Germany has concluded agreements with the Russians at the end of 2022. Poles from PKN Orlen had one contract with Tatneft until the end of 2024, but the Russians stopped supplying the oil in March, giving grounds for its termination, which Orlen announced in May 2023.

Wojciech Jakóbik