After the import ban on Russian oil, PCK needs new sources of supply in northern Brandenburg. A pipe from the port of Rostock is to be upgraded with money from the federal government. But the plan has a catch.
According to left-wing politician Christian Görke, the expansion of the oil pipeline from Rostock to the PCK Schwedt refinery in Brandenburg will be further delayed. Görke referred to information from the Federal Ministry of Economics about the aid for the project that has still not been approved by the EU Commission. At the left’s request, the ministry said: “No statement can be made at the moment regarding the time perspective.”
The pipeline is to be expanded to bring more tanker oil from the port of Rostock to the huge refinery that supplies millions of people in the northeast with gasoline and diesel. Because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, PCK no longer purchases oil from Russia. The federal government wants to invest 400 million euros in the pipeline project, but first needs a yes from Brussels. This was expected before Christmas, but the decision is still pending.
There are hurdles
One hurdle appears to be that PCK is majority owned by the Russian state-owned company Rosneft – although the federal government has control over the Rosneft shares through trusteeship. The ministry’s response to the Left points out that aid cannot be granted to companies against which the EU has imposed sanctions. “Against this background, questions regarding aid law arise with regard to the granting of aid to a company in which a sanctioned company has a majority stake,” says the ministry’s response.
Görke said: “It was and is obvious that there will be no approval from the EU as long as Rosneft is on board. This is the next setback for the PCK and the region for which the federal government, especially the green Ministry of Economic Affairs, is responsible has.” From the left-wing politician’s point of view, the federal government should have built its own pipeline or at least clarified the ownership issue at PCK promptly. “Neither happened,” criticized the left-wing member of the Bundestag.
The federal government recently extended the trust administration by another six months until September in the expectation that Rosneft would sell its 54 percent stake in PCK and its minority stake in two other German refineries.
Source: Stern
