The European Union will offer to officially stop the supply of Russian oil to Germany and Poland.
This is reported by the Bloomberg agency.
Both countries were allowed to continue receiving oil through the northern section of the Druzhba oil pipeline as part of a waiver from EU sanctions. Despite this, both countries have already stopped receiving oil through this section, fulfilling their previous promises to reduce supplies.
According to documents seen by the agency, there is a proposal to end the exemption from sanctions for these countries. This exception was granted when the EU decided to ban most Russian oil imports last June.
While such a move would be largely symbolic given that both countries have already cut off supplies, the shutdown itself has forced several refiners to engage in complex logistics to gain access to alternative crude. At least one of these, the PCK Schwedt plant near Berlin, has been forced to produce less fuel for the region it serves.
Exemptions allowing the delivery of Russian oil through the southern branch of the pipeline, which supplies oil to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, will remain in place.
In 2022, Germany and Poland imported an average of about 480,000 barrels per day through Druzhba. Imports to the three countries in the southern leg averaged nearly 290,000 bpd, a level that has fallen sharply this year.
The proposal to terminate the derogation from sanctions will become part of the 11th package of EU sanctions against the Russian Federation.
Poland has pushed for sanctions against the northern Druzhba route because it would otherwise make it legally difficult for Warsaw to terminate contracts and honor a commitment it made last year to end Russian oil imports. The country terminated its last oil supply contract in the spring after Russia cut supplies in February.
Since deliveries of Russian oil stopped, a small amount of Kazakh oil passes through Druzhba. There is no question of banning this, as imports from other third countries, including if the oil is transiting through Russia, are allowed.
