## Germany Eyes Gdańsk Route As Russia Halts Druzhba Flows, 43,000 Bpd Supply At Risk
Germany is racing to secure alternative crude oil supply routes after Russia signaled it would halt deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline starting May 1, placing approximately 43,000 barrels per day at risk of disruption. Berlin has opened talks with Warsaw over rerouting replacement barrels through the Polish port of Gdańsk, with shipments intended to feed the PCK Schwedt refinery—a facility that supplies a significant portion of eastern Germany's fuel needs, including Berlin.

The timing heightens the pressure. Kazakhstan had emerged as a critical alternative supplier following Germany's shift away from Russian crude, shipping 2.146 million metric tons through Druzhba last year, a 44% increase from 2024. An additional 730,000 tons flowed through the pipeline in the first quarter of this year. The Schwedt refinery has become a recurring vulnerability point in this new supply architecture, and this latest halt exposes how narrow the margins have become. Poland has stated it possesses the technical capacity to handle additional throughput at Gdańsk, but the logistics of redirecting sufficient volumes remain unclear.

The development underscores the structural fragility of Europe's post-Russian oil supply chain. With Druzhba—a pipeline that once moved Russian crude reliably for decades—no longer available as a fallback, Germany's eastern energy infrastructure operates with limited slack. Officials have not specified how long alternative arrangements might take to materialize or whether existing reserves can cover the gap during any extended disruption. The situation draws renewed attention to the long-term viability of Kazakhstan as a stable transit supplier, given Astana's continued economic and political ties to Moscow.
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- **Source**: ZeroHedge
- **Sector**: The Network
- **Tags**: oil supply, Druzhba pipeline, Russia energy leverage, Kazakhstan crude, Germany energy security
- **Credibility**: unverified
- **Published**: 2026-04-29 11:24:07
- **ID**: 78191
- **URL**: https://whisperx.ai/en/intel/78191