The PCK refinery in Schwedt will remain under trust management until March. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, this is intended to ensure security of supply. There is still a standstill in the struggle to sell Rosneft shares.
The federal government is extending the trust administration over the majority owners of the PCK oil refinery in Schwedt, Brandenburg. This was announced by the Federal Ministry of Economics. It is the second time that the trust administration has been extended. It is now valid until March 24, 2024, otherwise it would have expired in the middle of the month.
“By extending the trust administration, we are countering a continued threat to energy supply security,” said Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Michael Keller, explaining the decision to the Reuters news agency.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs placed the companies Rosneft Deutschland and RN Refining & Marketing under trusteeship of the Federal Network Agency last September and thus effectively took over control. Both companies are majority owners of the PCK refinery in Schwedt and subsidiaries of the Russian state-owned company Rosneft.
Main owners refused alternatives to Russian oil
The refinery supplies large parts of northeastern Germany and the Berlin area with fuel. Around 3,000 employees work there.
After the outbreak of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the resulting decision by the federal government to no longer purchase energy resources such as oil from Russia, the main owners came under pressure. Until the end of 2022, PCK mainly processed crude oil from Russia. The federal government accused the Rosneft subsidiaries of not looking for alternatives to Russian oil. In addition, banks and insurance companies stopped working with the owners.
Currently, the refinery is supplied with oil via the ports of Rostock and Gdańsk, as well as through deliveries from Kazakhstan. “The location has been consolidated in the past few months. There have been no supply bottlenecks,” assured Economics State Secretary Keller in an interview with the dpa news agency.
Rosneft should sell shares
Rosneft formally still holds 54 percent of the refinery’s shares, but cannot freely dispose of these shares. Other shareholders are Shell with 37 percent and ENI with eight percent. In March, Rosneft filed a lawsuit against the trust administration in the Federal Administrative Court, but failed.
Negotiations are currently underway with the Russian company to sell the company shares and thus clear the way for new investors. The Polish government is also pushing for this. The federal government has so far shied away from expropriating Rosneft’s subsidiaries. According to Keller, there have been no signs of progress in the struggle for a possible sale of the shares to date.
According to Reuters, Shell is also looking for buyers for its shares in the refinery. These negotiations are therefore already well advanced. Private Polish companies are considered potential buyers.