UPDATE 1-LUKOIL to supply no oil to Germany in April-trade

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By Alexander Yershov

MOSCOW, March 18 (Reuters) - Russia's LUKOIL (LKOH.MM) will supply no crude to Germany in April for a third month in a row as it steps up pressure on the importer of Russian oil to the country to get better prices, trading sources said on Tuesday.

"There will be most likely nothing for April, and going forward, talks will be held on a monthly basis," one source told Reuters.

Russian crude is supplied to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline, which runs from Russia via Poland and Belarus.

LUKOIL, Russia's second-largest oil producer, wants to clinch direct deals with German refiners instead of supplying oil to Sunimex, a monopoly importer of Russian pipeline crude to Germany, or get better prices from Sunimex.

In August last year, LUKOIL already reduced supplies to Sunimex, run by Russian businessman Sergei Kishilov. It later clinched a deal to restore supplies from September.

On Tuesday, LUKOIL declined official comments. Sunimex was not immediately available for comments.

Trading sources said LUKOIL wants Suminex to increase import prices by $0.5 per barrel after winning a $0.3 per barrel addition last year.

The fresh cut forced some German refiners to switch to alternative supplies, including to imports of the same Russian crude via the port of Rostock on the Baltic Sea by bringing it in tankers from the Russian port of Primorsk.

German officials have said there was no danger to German oil supplies from the cut.

"We are producing full out," said a spokesman for German Schwedt refinery.

Germany had been due to get 5.87 million tonnes of Russian oil in the first quarter of 2008, including 1.75 million from LUKOIL, according to an export schedule made by pipeline monopoly Transneft. For a story, please click on [ID:nL1883784].

It means LUKOIL's cut in theory reduces Russian crude supplies by pipeline to Germany by more than a quarter.

Russian companies are due to switch to annual export schedules from quarterly plans from the second quarter of 2008, and the source said LUKOIL has in theory allocated Germany 5.25 million tonnes before the year end.

One fifth of German supplies arrive via Druzhba and are overseen by Sunimex, an intermediary which buys crude from Russian firms and sells it to the German refineries of BP (BP.L), Total (TOTF.PA), Royal Dutch/Shell (RDSa.L) and Agip (ENI.MI).