Polish refiner PKN Orlen is interested in taking a controlling stake in the PCK Schwedt refinery that Germany has placed under a trusteeship, effectively removing control from Russia's Rosneft, sources in Berlin and Warsaw familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
Warsaw said earlier this year that ending Russian ownership of the refinery was a condition for potentially supplying it with sea-borne oil via a terminal in Gdańsk and via Polish pipelines to replace Russian crude.
State-controlled PKN Orlen declined to comment, saying it announces planned or implemented projects and investments when decisions are made.
"We are monitoring the situation in the region," the refiner's press office said in response to a question from Reuters. Poland's climate ministry and the German economy ministry were not available for comment.
The refinery, which was majority-owned by Rosneft, has been testing Germany's resolve to eliminate imports of oil from Russia by the end of the year under European sanctions to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
Germany needs Polish support to supply the refinery via Gdańsk. Schwedt also supplies parts of Poland. The landlocked refinery is the source of 90% of Berlin's fuel and has received all its crude from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline since the plant was built in the 1960s.
The refinery, brought under state control under Germany's energy security law, can continue to operate but not at full capacity, a spokesperson for the economy ministry said on Friday.
Poland earlier this year offered to allocate capacity at its oil terminal in Gdańsk and said it could ship crude oil via its pipelines from the port to Germany on the condition Rosneft was removed as an owner of Schwedt.
"There's a question if Schwedt refinery would adjust to non-Russian crude without losses on production yields but if this is an opportunistic buy it might be worth considering," Michał Kozak, senior equity analyst at Trigon brokerage told Reuters.
Scholz: a very important step to ensure Germany’s energy supplies
"Ladies and gentlemen, today the German government put 'Rosneft Deutschland GmbH' and 'RN Refining and Marketing GmbH' under the trusteeship of regulator Bundesnetzagentur. This is a far-reaching, energy policy decision to protect our country. As we found out a long time ago, Russia is no longer a reliable energy supplier. The past weeks have made this clear," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters on Friday.
"We don’t know what will happen but we have assumed for a long time for reasons to do with Russia’s war against Ukraine that deliveries could suddenly stop,” Scholz told reporters.
The Chancellor also said the decision would ensure "Germany will be supplied with oil in the middle and long term and this is especially true for the Schwedt refinery, the PCK refinery Schwedt".
"We did not take this decision lightly but it was unavoidable. What’s important is that Schwedt as a company location will be secured and this is something I especially want the workers and their families in Schwedt to know, as well as the town and the region," he added.
"What’s very important here is the pipeline from Rostock to Schwedt: it will be put into place with considerable financial funds to always ensure a decent oil supply. We will obviously not just discuss deliveries via Rostock but also what’s possible together with Poland. That too is something which can be improved," Scholz explained.
"Today’s move is a very important step to ensure Germany’s energy supplies and an important decision for investments in the future in the three eastern German states. We are making ourselves more independent from Russia and also from decisions which are taken somewhere or other," German Chancellor said.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters