The flow of crude oil via the Druzhba pipeline from Russia to Germany will restart today, Reuters is reporting, citing an unnamed source.
“Oil pumping is scheduled to begin tomorrow at lunchtime,” the Reuters source said on Tuesday.
At the end of January, the Druzhba oil pipeline was damaged in what Ukraine said was a Russian drone attack. Hungary, however, accused the Ukrainian side of bombing the pipeline. In retaliation, now former Hungarian president Victor Orban vetoed the release of another 90 billion euro to the Zelensky government.
Supplies of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia, the last two remaining EU member states dependent on Russian crude flows via Druzhba, have been halted since January 27.
“We will complete the repairs because that is the agreement. I told them we would finish this spring,” Zelenskyy said earlier this month in remarks to reporters carried by Reuters. “A lot has already been done there… Of course, destroyed storage tanks cannot be repaired quickly,” the Ukrainian president added at the time.
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Earlier this week, however, another Reuters report quoted unnamed industry sources as saying Russia intended to suspend the flow of Kazakh oil via the Druzhba pipeline beginning May 1st. Russia had already sent a revised supply schedule do both Kazakhstan and Germany, the sources said.
Today, Kazakhstan confirmed the planned suspension, citing technical constraints on the Russian side. Astana’s energy minister suggested that the constraints could be the result of oil infrastructure damage from drone strikes but emphasized this was only an assumption.
Kazakh oil has become one of the most readily available replacements for Russian crude in Europe, albeit in much lower volumes. Kazakh flows via the Druzhba pipeline arriving in Germany averaged 43,000 barrels daily as of 2025, Reuters noted in its report, up by 44% from the previous year.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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