mineral oil

Gasoline, heating oil, road surface: Without oil, many things would stand still in Germany.

81.4 million tons of crude oil were imported last year.

By far the largest supplier was Russia (34 percent), followed by the USA, Kazakhstan, Norway and Great Britain.

Meanwhile, German production covers just 2 percent of local oil consumption.

"The mineral oil industry in Germany has already initiated a reduction in imports of Russian crude oil and mineral oil products, primarily diesel," according to the Fuels and Energy Industry Association (en2x).

Helmut Buender

Business correspondent in Düsseldorf.

  • Follow I follow

Christian Geinitz

Business correspondent in Berlin

  • Follow I follow

Othmara glass

volunteer

  • Follow I follow

Jan Hauser

Editor in Business.

  • Follow I follow

Anna Schiller

volunteer.

  • Follow I follow

However, 34 percent cannot be replaced so easily in a short time.

Two-thirds of Russia's crude oil imports come to East Germany via the Druzhba pipeline.

The remainder travels by sea and pipeline to refineries to the west and south.

For this third, a switch to oil imports from other countries is at least possible.

However, as a result of the war and sanctions, there is a supply shortage all over the world.

Obtaining oil on the international market is currently rather difficult.

Some refineries are designed for Russian oil and cannot easily process other types of oil.

In addition, the oil company Rosneft, controlled by the Russian state, has a stake in three of the five largest refineries in Germany.

But Germany could secure the supply for some time even without Russian oil supplies.

The German Petroleum Stockpiling Association (EBV) currently holds about 24 million tons of petroleum and petroleum products.

If the almost 28 million tons of imports from Russia were to be eliminated, that would still be enough for ten to eleven months.

While it is easier to find other supplier countries for oil and coal on the world market, it is more difficult for natural gas.

With a share of 27 percent of primary energy consumption, this is the second most important energy source in Germany.

The EU imports around 40 percent of its gas from Russia.

For Germany it is higher.

In this country, 55 percent of the pipeline natural gas supply came from Russia in 2020, 30 percent from Norway and 13 percent from the Netherlands.

Domestic production is low, but could also be increased somewhat.

In electricity generation, gas-fired power plants should be able to be replaced by coal-fired power plants, but this is not so easy in industry (almost 37 percent of gas consumption) and households (30 percent).

Every second apartment is heated with natural gas.

According to the industry association Zukunft Gas, more LNG import capacities, which also result from the government's efforts, will only be available in four to five years.

The terminals in the Netherlands and Belgium, which are well connected to Germany, are currently working at their capacity limits, says association board member Timm Kehler.

According to the comparison portal Verivox, a kilowatt hour of gas cost an average of 9.81 cents in the basic supply tariff – an increase of around 30 percent within a year.

However, the stock exchange price has multiplied during this period and continues to appear volatile due to the Ukraine war.

While at the end of last year a value of almost 150 euros per megawatt hour was considered high,

On Monday, the price for natural gas at the Dutch TTF hub temporarily rose to EUR 345 and later fell again to well over EUR 200.

Municipal gas suppliers usually have long-term contracts, which is why short-term fluctuations have less of an impact.

But ultimately, the end consumer will feel the higher prices.