As of: February 22, 2024, 4:01 p.m
By: Lisa Mayerhofer
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Crude oil processing facilities on the premises of PCK-Raffinerie GmbH in Schwedt (archive image).
Rosneft holds shares in it.
© Patrick Pleul/dpa
The German Rosneft subsidiaries are still under the trusteeship of the German state.
But this expires in March.
Then a solution is needed – otherwise there could be a risk of supply bottlenecks.
Berlin - The Ministry of Economic Affairs is sounding the alarm in the dispute over the Russian state-owned company Rosneft's shares in German refineries - the supply of millions of consumers in eastern and southern Germany is at stake.
If the PCK refinery in Brandenburg, in which Rosneft is the majority owner, were to fail, the greater Berlin and Brandenburg area would be missing 300,000 tons of diesel and heating oil per month.
This is stated in a report from the ministry to the Energy Committee in the Bundestag, which is available to the German Press Agency.
A further 210,000 tons of diesel and heating oil per month would be missing if Rosneft Germany's shares in the Miro and Bayernoil refineries were to fail.
“It would not be possible to procure and transport these shortages at short notice,” says the paper, which is dated Wednesday.
“As a result, there would be a high risk of supply bottlenecks in the east and south of Germany.”
Rosneft expropriation still under review
The ministry is examining whether Rosneft's shares in the three refineries should be expropriated.
The federal government placed the German Rosneft subsidiaries under trust management in September 2022 and thus brought them under its control.
The aim was to secure supplies despite not using Russian oil because of the war in Ukraine.
After being extended several times, the trust solution expires on March 10th.
“The federal government is therefore examining options for further action,” says the report.
Without government intervention, the operations of Rosneft Germany and its associated refineries Miro, Bayernoil and PCK would be expected to be impaired.
If PCK were controlled by Russia, suppliers, customers, service providers and banks would withdraw, which could lead to the cessation of operations, it is said.
“As market forces cannot solve this problem, further government intervention is required.”
What to do with the Rosneft shares?
possible alternatives
A further temporary extension of the trust administration would be possible.
But a long-term solution is necessary, explains the ministry.
A hearing was therefore initiated.
But that is not yet a decision for expropriation.
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The deadline for the hearing expires on Friday (February 23, 2024).
Brandenburg's Economics Minister Jörg Steinbach had stated that he considered other solutions to be conceivable in addition to expropriation.
It cannot be ruled out that Rosneft is interested in selling its shares.
Rosneft holds 54 percent of PCK in Schwedt, 24 percent of the Miro refinery in Karlsruhe and around 28.6 percent of Bayernoil, based in Neustadt an der Donau.
Rosneft shares in German refineries: There are interested parties
But there is different information about the Russians' willingness to sell, writes the
Handelsblatt
.
Although Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin sought contact with the federal government, as soon as they wanted to negotiate specifically, the Russian side always backed down.
At least there are already interested parties who could take over the German Rosneft subsidiaries' share in PCK Schwedt, for example.
According to
Handelsblatt
, these include the Polish Orlen Group and the Kazakh oil company Kazmunaygas.
With material from dpa