Kazakhstan mulls trial oil shipment to Germany in Jan - KMG

ALMATY. Dec 21 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan is considering a trial oil shipment to Germany in January, said Magzum Mirzagaliev, CEO of national oil and gas company KazMunayGas (KMG).

"Kazakhstan's president has asked KazMunayGas to look at a trial oil shipment to Germany in January 2023," Mirzagaliyev was quoted as saying in a KMG press release.

Mirzagaliyev talked to Michael Kellner, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, by videoconference and to Bundestag deputy from the Left Party Christian Gerke at a meeting in Astana on December 20. They discussed the export of Kazakh oil to the Schwedt refinery in Germany.

The Bundestag deputy expressed interest in stable supplies of crude oil from Kazakhstan via the Druzhba oil pipeline.

The head of KMG confirmed the possibility of exporting Kazakh oil to Germany via this pipeline but noted that commercial terms and other issues related to the transportation of oil should be resolved.

Kazakh Energy Minister Bolat Akchulakov said earlier that Kazakhstan could consider offers regarding the oil supply to Europe, including to the Schwedt refinery.

Germany's Federal Network Agency has taken control of a subsidiary of Russia's oil company Rosneft and its shares in three oil refineries: PCK Raffinerie in Schwedt, MiRo on Karlsruhe and Bayernoil in Vohburg. Rosneft Deutschland accounts for about 12% of German refining capacity and is one of the largest fuel market players. Rosneft said it was considering protective measures, including filing a lawsuit over the decision to transfer its assets in Germany under the German government control.

The capacity of the Schwedt refinery is 11.6 million tonnes of oil products per year. Starting from the design stage, the plant has historically been linked with the Druzhba oil pipeline and Russian oil fields.