Russia’s Transneft receives oil requests from Poland and Germany
Dec. 20 (Reuters) – Russia’s Transneft (TRNF_p.MM) has received oil requests from Poland and Germany in 2023, the head of the state oil pipeline monopoly told Rossiya-24 TV, adding that supplies through the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline are expected to remain stable next year.
The EU has pledged to stop buying Russian oil via sea lanes from December 5, and Western nations have also imposed price caps on Russian crude, but the Druzhba pipeline remains exempt from sanctions.
Transneft’s comments contradict suggestions last month that Poland intended to abandon a deal to buy Russian crude.
Sources familiar with the talks told Reuters that Poland was seeking Germany’s support for EU sanctions on the Polish-German section of the Druzhba pipeline so that Warsaw could abandon a deal to buy Russian oil next year without paying sanctions.
“They announced that they would not take oil from Russia from January 1. And now we have received requests from Polish consumers: give us 3 million tons next year and 360,000 tons for December, and Germany has already submitted a request for the first quarter “Transneft chief Nikolay Tokarev said on Tuesday.
Nor did it rule out swap operations with Kazakhstan in the supply of oil to refineries in Germany.
Polish refiner PKN Orlen said on Tuesday it will not extend a contract for Russian oil that expires in January 2023, while a second long-term deal for Russian crude will no longer be implemented once sanctions are applied.
A spokesman for the German economy ministry said reports that Germany had ordered Russian crude were false and that mineral oil companies at the eastern German refineries in Leuna and Schwedt will no longer order Russian crude for next year.
Berlin aims to eliminate Russian oil imports by the end of the year and has been working with Poland for months to try to secure supplies from Schwedt, which provides 90% of Berlin’s fuel.
Germany’s Finance Ministry is optimistic Oil from Kazakhstan, due to arrive via the Druzhba pipeline via Poland, may help supplement shipments of replacement crude oil for Schwedt.
Schwedt has reserved corresponding capacities for Kazakh oil in the pipeline system from January, the spokesman said, adding that this does not constitute orders.
PLANS
“We are considering all options… circumstances are developing in such a way that it is quite difficult to predict how the market situation will develop next year, but it is obvious that it will not be easy,” Tokarev said.
Transneft, which handles more than 80% of the total oil produced in Russia, has increased oil exports by a fifth this year, it added.
Russia expects to cut oil production next year to 490 million tons, or 9.84 million barrels per day (bpd), from 525 million to 530 million tons (10.54 million bpd to 10.64 million bpd) expected this year in light of Western sanctions on Ukraine.
Tokarev also said that oil supplies through the southern Druzhba spur, which transports oil via Ukraine to Slovakia and the Czech Republic, will remain unchanged next year thanks to a sanctions waiver.
The Black Sea port of Novorossiisk has expanded low-sulfur oil export capacity to 40 million tons a year, he said, adding that oil supplies through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium are expected from the Black Sea terminal will reach between 50 and 51 million tons this year. year, below the 63 million tons forecast due to repairs.
Exports through the far eastern port of Kozmino are expected to total 42 million tons this year, exceeding the usual annual capacity of 30 million tons, Tokarev said.
Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne, Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow, Miranda Murray in Berlin and Anna Koper in Warsaw Editing by Tom Hogue, David Goodman and David Evans
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