Germany says oil imports from Kazakhstan only briefly disrupted by pipeline attacks

Kazakhstan's oil exports to Germany via Russia's Druzhba pipeline were briefly disrupted after Ukrainian attacks on the infrastructure, but supplies had been restored and were not at further risk, the German economy ministry said on Tuesday.

Ukraine's military said on Monday that its drones had struck an oil pumping station in Russia's Tambov region, which it said was part of Moscow's war effort in Ukraine, leading to the suspension of supplies via the Druzhba pipeline.

Germany's PCK refinery - one of the country's largest - in the northeastern town of Schwedt is supplied in part by Kazakh crude transported via the pipeline.

"The delivery route was briefly disrupted. But there has not been any impact on the supply security. The operations of the PCK refinery have not been impaired," a spokesperson for Germany's economy ministry told Reuters.

Kazakhstan's energy ministry said separately that its oil supplies have not been restricted despite the attacks.

"According to available information, the transportation of Kazakh oil is currently carried out in a normal mode without restrictions on the acceptance of oil from shippers," it said in emailed comments.

Hungary and Slovakia, which normally receive Russian oil via the southern branch of the pipeline, said on Monday that flows had been halted with Budapest blaming a Ukrainian attack on a part of the network.

Russia's energy ministry declined Reuters' requests for comment.

Kazakhstan's oil is increasingly important for east German refineries.

Kazakhstan's oil exports to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline for the period from January to July jumped 38 per cent year on year to 1.086 million tonnes - equivalent to 37,550 barrels per day - according to pipeline company Kaztransoil.

Supplies through the Druzhba pipeline in July alone totaled 160,000 tonnes.

A source familiar with oil exports to Germany told Reuters that a batch of Kazakhstan's oil for Germany scheduled for shipping last Thursday and Friday was pumped with a two-day delay over the weekend.

The Schwedt refinery has been under German trusteeship since Russia's Rosneft was stripped of its majority control following Berlin's seizure of Rosneft entities in response to Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Germany stopped buying Russian oil in 2023.

(Reporting by Vera Eckert and Marek Strzelecki; Editing by David Goodman and Joe Bavier)