Russia increased oil exports to the EU via southern Druzhba by 6% in the first quarter. 23 g / 4 sq. 22 g, while the north is dry

MOSCOW, Mar 17 (Reuters) – Russian Urals oil exports to EU countries via the southern branch of the Druzhba oil pipeline in January-March 2023 rose 6% daily compared to October-December last year, data from industry sources and Reuters calculations showed.

According to sources, the volume of deliveries of the Urals along the southern branch of Druzhba to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary in the first quarter of this year will amount to about 3.1 million tons compared to 3.0 million tons in the fourth quarter of last year.

On December 5, the EU introduced a ban on Russian oil imports by sea, but pipeline supplies of raw materials from the Russian Federation were moved beyond the limits of the sanctions.

Deliveries of Russian oil through the northern branch of Druzhba were stopped in February 2023, after the Russian Tatneft completely stopped exporting the Urals to Poland under the contract with the PKN Orlen refinery.

The Polish PKN Orlen is the owner of the Czech company Unipetrol, which continues to purchase Urals oil through the southern branch of Druzhba. In January-March, total shipments to the Czech Republic amounted to around 1 million tons, sources told Reuters.

The main recipient of the variety in Slovakia and Hungary is the Hungarian oil and gas group MOL.

PKN Orlen, MOL and the Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft did not respond to Reuters inquiries. The Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation declined to comment.

The main suppliers of Urlas on the southern branch of Druzhba are Rosneft, Lukoil and Tatneft.

At the same time, Reuters sources note that deliveries of the Urals along the southern branch of Druzhba remain lower than in the first half of last year.

“In the period March-September 2022, the average pumping of the Urals along the southern branch (Przyjaźń) was over 300,000. barrels per day (from 1.25 million tons per month), and over the last six months it has decreased and averages around 250 thousand. the source told Reuters.

Germany and Poland, which have stopped receiving Russian oil through Druzhba, are counting on supplementing the shortage of raw materials at the expense of the resources of Kazakh producers.

As Interfax reported, citing the head of the transport monopoly Nikolai Tokarev, Transneft received requests from Germany and Poland to pump Kazakh oil through the Druzhba pipeline in the second quarter of 2023.