diff --git a/contrib/osc.spec b/contrib/osc.spec
index 8f607bef..6c065706 100644
--- a/contrib/osc.spec
+++ b/contrib/osc.spec
@@ -83,7 +83,6 @@ BuildRequires:  %{use_python_pkg}-devel >= 3.6
 BuildRequires:  %{use_python_pkg}-rpm
 BuildRequires:  %{use_python_pkg}-setuptools
 BuildRequires:  %{use_python_pkg}-urllib3
-BuildRequires:  %{use_python_pkg}-requests
 BuildRequires:  %{yaml_pkg}
 BuildRequires:  diffstat
 %if %{with fdupes}
@@ -95,7 +94,6 @@ BuildRequires:  git-core
 Requires:       %{use_python_pkg}-cryptography
 Requires:       %{use_python_pkg}-rpm
 Requires:       %{use_python_pkg}-urllib3
-BuildRequires:  %{use_python_pkg}-requests
 Requires:       %{yaml_pkg}
 
 # needed for git-obs completion
diff --git a/osc/core.py b/osc/core.py
index a60c9ccc..0bcb10b7 100644
--- a/osc/core.py
+++ b/osc/core.py
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ import locale
 import os
 import platform
 import re
-import requests
 import shlex
 import shutil
 import subprocess
@@ -1400,16 +1399,18 @@ def show_devel_project(apiurl, prj, pac):
 
     package_obj = obs_api.Package.from_api(apiurl, prj, pac)
     if package_obj.devel is None:
-        if prj == 'openSUSE:Factory' or prj == 'openSUSE.org:openSUSE:Factory':
+        if prj == "openSUSE:Factory" or prj == "openSUSE.org:openSUSE:Factory":
             # If OBS api doesn't return a devel project, query the gitea devel_packages file
             try:
-                response = requests.get(DEVEL_PACKAGES_URL)
+                response = http_request("GET", DEVEL_PACKAGES_URL)
+                response.auto_close = False
             except:
                 return None, None
-            if response.status_code == 200 and response.text:
+            if response.status == 200:
                 # locate pac in the devel_packages file
-                for line in response.text.splitlines():
-                    devel_pkg, _, devel_prj = line.partition(' ')
+                for line in io.TextIOWrapper(response):
+                    devel_pkg, _, devel_prj = line.partition(" ")
+                    devel_prj = devel_prj.strip()
                     if devel_pkg == pac:
                         # found the package, return devel project and package
                         if devel_pkg and devel_prj:
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 5c14b817..a8549fb1 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@ install_requires =
     # rpm is not available on pip, install a matching package manually prior installing osc
     rpm
     ruamel.yaml
-    urllib3
 
 [options.extras_require]
 lint =