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PCK refinery in Schwedt: »We are ready«
Photo: Patrick Pleul / dpa
According to a report in the "Handelsblatt", several investors have expressed an interest in the PCK oil refinery in Schwedt, Brandenburg.
As the newspaper reported on Monday, they approached the federal government with the will to take over the location.
"We are ready to take over the refinery PCK Schwedt completely," said Raul Riefler, managing director of the Alcmene Group, the newspaper.
Alcmene belongs to the Estonian Liwathon Group, an oil terminal operator.
The company could "start immediately to find a long-term solution for the continued existence of the refinery," it said.
The group is "probably the only one with the technical resources to relocate loading devices to Schwedt within a few months, which would enable the PCK to be used to capacity in times of war and sanctions, if necessary, via rail traffic alone".
The future of the refinery is currently being discussed due to a possible halt to oil supplies from Russia.
It plays a key role in imports.
This is where the Druzhba pipeline for Russian oil ends and from there large parts of eastern Germany in particular are supplied with oil products.
The refinery is the most important supplier of petroleum products in the Berlin-Brandenburg area.
The federal government wants to keep the site - even in the event of a possible oil embargo, as is currently being discussed at EU level.
However, the majority owner of the refinery is the Russian state-owned company Rosneft.
According to "Handelsblatt", biofuel entrepreneur Claus Sauter, CEO of Verbio AG, is also interested in the refinery.
"We could demonstrate at the Schwedt refinery site how the transformation from fossil to renewable energies can be designed," he said.
"Schwedt is ideal for this."
One of the two production lines there can initially continue to be used "to refine fossil fuels".
The other could be used to produce "first and second generation biofuels".
mike/AFP
