Oil & Gas

German activists have allegedly succeeded in halting the flow of crude oil through pipelines at five separate locations in protest against the country’s foot-dragging on a ban on Russian oil.

A group calling itself “The Uprising of the Last Generation” claims to have breached the pipelines at emergency stations on Wednesday where climate activists activated shut-off valves and then chained themselves to the valves.

According to Reuters, the five valve locations were in Berlin, Munich, Leipzig, Greifswald and Koblenz. 

The group said that “crude oil pipelines had been turned off all over Germany and the flow of oil had been interrupted”. Members of the group filmed the shut-offs, posting video and photographs on Twitter and Instagram.

According to Germany’s Tichys Einblick daily, it was unclear at the time of writing if crude oil flows along this pipeline had effectively been halted.

Activists are demanding that the government of Olaf Scholz work faster to find ways to reduce Germany’s dependence on Russian energy sources.

"We are in a climate emergency! The German government not only ignores it, it plans to fuel it further. To now want to drill for oil in our North Sea - this is madness that you must stop, Mr. Habeck!" activist Edmund Schulz said in a statement.

Germany, the European Union’s largest economy, has waffled on Russian oil and gas, with unions and industry leaders warning that an “immediate” Russian natural gas ban would be disastrous to the economy.

Germany has already cut Russian oil imports by over 20%, with officials now spreading optimism that it could be only a matter of days before the country is capable of a total embargo on Russian oil.

On Tuesday, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck declared that Germany had reduced Russian oil imports to around 12% from 35% prior to the invasion of Ukraine, and that a full ban on Russian oil would be “manageable” soon–potentially in a matter of days.