What will happen to the refinery in Schwedt? For now, the federal trust administration will continue. But there is a potential buyer for the shares of the Russian state-owned company Rosneft.
The PCK oil refinery in Schwedt will remain under the control of the German state for the time being. The German government has extended the trust administration of the majority shares of the Russian state-owned company Rosneft in the PCK refinery by a further six months until March 10, 2025. This was announced by the Federal Ministry of Economics. The trust administration would otherwise have expired on September 10. A sale of Rosneft’s shares in the PCK refinery could be finalized by the end of the year.
Federal government took control in 2022
The shares have been under federal trust administration since September 2022. The background to this is the federal government’s decision to stop importing Russian oil because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. At the beginning of 2023, PCK switched to other sources of supply. The trust administration was last extended by six months in March. In addition to Schwedt, Rosneft’s shares in the MiRo refineries in Karlsruhe and Bayernoil in Vohburg are at stake. The basis is the Energy Security Act. The trustee is specifically the Federal Network Agency. Rosneft holds 54 percent of the shares in the PCK refinery in northeast Brandenburg.
Federal government emphasizes security of supply
Rosneft Germany accounts for around twelve percent of Germany’s oil processing capacity, making it one of the largest oil processing companies in Germany, according to the ministry. The extension of the trust administration will address “forecasted risks” to security of supply. “The order continues to guarantee supplies to the federal states of Berlin and Brandenburg in particular and secures the future viability of the Schwedt site.”
Buyer Qatar?
A possible sale of Rosneft’s shares in the refinery could soon be moving forward. The Gulf emirate of Qatar is considered to be interested in a purchase. The German government is holding talks, Business Insider recently reported. This was confirmed to the German Press Agency by insiders. The deal would not be made by the German government, however, but would be handled between Rosneft and Qatar. The German government would examine the deal in accordance with the Foreign Trade Act. Rosneft is considered to be ready to sell.
Rosneft Russia has now “credibly demonstrated” that a sale of Rosneft Germany is being actively pursued and that this should be completed by the end of the year, according to the Federal Ministry of Economics. “A sale would be the most legally secure and therefore quickest way to enable investments in the refineries and thus secure the sites.” Rosneft has continued to suspend lawsuits against the trust orders.
Minister: Removed from expropriation
Brandenburg’s Economics Minister Jörg Steinbach (SPD) sees the extension of the trust administration at PCK as a signal that the Russian state-owned company Rosneft is seriously interested in selling its majority shares. “I am very pleased that the Russian side is clearly interested in an independent sale of its plants and refineries in Germany and has entered into serious negotiations with a potential buyer. That is the Qataris,” Steinbach told the German Press Agency in Potsdam.
The extension of the trust solution offers the possibility “of being a little further away from the much more complex and risky path of expropriation,” stressed Steinbach. Regarding Rosneft’s plans to sell its refinery shares, he said that such a process generally takes several months. “It would be a particularly quick procedure if we received some kind of signal in this regard by the end of the year.”
Left for state involvement
Christian Görke, member of the Left Party’s Bundestag, said that the federal government could and must get involved in the PCK as quickly as possible so that this important structural building block and the thousands of jobs in the region can be retained. “What works as standard in the West with the federal government’s entry into the Meyer Werft in Papenburg must also be possible in the East.”
Source: Stern
