Germany Looking for Oil in Kazakhstan and Poland for Schwedt Refinery

BERLIN (Sputnik) - Germany is negotiating with Poland and Kazakhstan the alternatives to the supply of Russian raw materials to the oil refinery in the city of Schwedt in preparation for the upcoming ban on Russian oil imports, Deputy Economy Minister from the Green party Michael Kellner said on Wednesday.

"The import ban is [German] Chancellor Olaf Scholz's promise to the federal government. Our task is to implement individual points step by step so that additional oil supplies for Schwedt go through Poland and Kazakhstan, and this is exactly what we are working on with all our might," Kellner told German news agency dpa.

The first trial supply from the Polish city of Gdansk was planned for the beginning of the month, he said, adding that Warsaw was interested in further supplies, since the Schwedt refinery was contributing to the security of west Poland's oil supply.

According to the lawmaker, a meeting with a government delegation from Kazakhstan was also expected to take place in Berlin in December.

A Jan. 10, 2007 file photo shows a pumping station at the end of the oil pipeline "Druzhba" (Friendship) in the eastern German refinery PCK Schwedt, background, in Schwedt.

© AP Photo / Sven Kaestner

The EU-level ban on crude oil imports from Russia will go into effect on December 5. The Schwedt refinery is currently receiving oil supplies almost exclusively from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline.

Last week, the German economy and foreign ministries said that the country did not see contradictions in the plans of the European Union to purchase gas from Azerbaijan, despite the fact that it may be of Russian origin.