Entrance to the PCK refinery in Schwedt, Brandenburg
Image: dpa
In order to be able to operate the oil refinery in Schwedt, which was recently placed under trusteeship, Polish help will be required in the future. However, Poland only wants to act if the plant is nationalized.
POlen puts pressure on Germany to supply the Schwedt refinery with oil and indirectly demands nationalization. “The PCK Raffinerie Schwedt is not yet in state hands,” said the responsible Polish Ministry of Climate on Thursday when asked by Reuters. Although Rosneft Germany is under German trusteeship, the majority in Schwedt still belongs to Rosneft. Poland is ready to support Schwedt in supplying oil. The prerequisite, however, is that Rosneft Germany no longer holds any shares in the refinery. A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Economics said that Poland welcomed the trustee solution. The talks with Poland and the exchange on the pipeline network and oil supplies are constructive.
Germany no longer wants to process Russian oil from the end of the year and therefore needs a replacement for the Rosneft oil from the Druzhba pipeline. Last week, the government placed Rosneft Germany under trusteeship, paving the way for an alternative supply. In order to adequately utilize Schwedt, however, one is dependent on deliveries via the Polish port of Gdansk and the pipeline system there.
The background to the Polish pressure could be that the oil company Orlen, according to German government circles, is interested in entering Schwedt and thus taking over the Rosneft shares. In a first step, Rosneft would then have to give up its 54 percent stake, for example through expropriation by the German state. In German government circles it was said that the Ministry of Economic Affairs was also holding talks with potential buyers from Poland.
