Russia's Transneft has received requests from Poland and Germany for oil in 2023, head of the state oil supplier, Nikolay Tokarev, told Russia-24 TV on Monday, adding that supplies via the Druzhba pipeline's southern spur are expected to hold steady next year.

The EU had pledged to stop buying Russian oil via maritime routes from December 5, with Western nations also imposing price caps on Russian crude oil, but the Druzhba pipeline remains exempt from sanctions.

Transneft's comments are at odds with suggestions last month that Poland aimed to abandon a deal to buy Russian crude.

In November, reports emerged that Poland was seeking German support for EU sanctions on the Polish-German section of the Druzhba pipeline so that Warsaw could abandon a deal to buy Russian oil next year without paying penalties.

"They announced that they would not take oil from Russia from January 1. And now we have received requests from Polish consumers: give us 3 million tonnes next year, and 360,000 tonnes for December, and Germany has already submitted a request for the first quarter," Tokarev said.

Tokarev also didn't rule out swap operations with Kazakhstan in supplying oil to refineries in Germany.

"We are considering all the options ... circumstances are developing in such a way that it is rather difficult to predict how the market situation will develop next year, but it is obvious that it will not be easy," Tokarev said.

Transneft, which handles more than 80 percent of total oil produced in Russia, has cranked up oil exports by a fifth this year, he added.

Russia expects to reduce oil production next year to 490 million tonnes, or 9.84 million barrels per day (bpd), from the 525 million to 530 million tonnes (10.54 million bpd to 10.64 million bpd) expected this year in the face of Western sanctions.

Tokarev also said that oil supplies via the southern spur of Druzhba, which transports oil through Ukraine to Slovakia and the Czech Republic, will remain unchanged next year.

(With input from Reuters)