Head of KazMunayGas Holds Talks on Kazakh Oil Exports to Germany

On 20 December, Magzum Mirzagaliyev, Chairman of the Management Board of JSC NC “KazMunayGas” (KMG), met with Michael Kellner, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (via video conference), as well as in Astana with Christian Görke, a Bundestag member from the parliamentary group of the German Left-Wing Party.

The parties discussed the export of Kazakh oil to the Schwedt Refinery. Christian Görke said that the refinery is the heart of the economy of the federal state of Brandenburg in eastern Germany. The Bundestag member expressed interest in a stable supply of raw materials from Kazakhstan via the Druzhba pipeline.

The Head of KMG confirmed the possibility of exporting Kazakh oil to Germany via the pipeline, but said contractual and technical issues need to be resolved.

“The resources of KMG’s oil producing companies are sent to domestic refineries to meet commitments to supply petroleum products to the domestic market of the Republic of Kazakhstan. KMG’s export oil is supplied to a single system trader, KMG Trading, which sends it to KMG’s Romanian refineries first, with the remaining export oil sold under long-term contracts. As instructed by the President of Kazakhstan, KazMunayGas is considering a trial shipment of oil to Germany as early as January 2023,” M. Mirzagaliyev said.

At the end of negotiations, both parties expressed hope of further joint, mutually beneficial cooperation.

The Schwedt Refinery with an annual crude oil capacity of more than 10 million tonnes supplies Berlin and much of eastern Germany with fuel.