Germany took control of the three refineries managed by the Russian state oil company Rosneft in order to ensure energy supply during the winter and protect the German economy from the effects of the Russian crude embargo throughout the European Union, which will enter force at the end of the year.
This is the second time that the government of Social Democrat Olaf Scholz has taken a measure of this magnitude in the midst of an economic war against Moscow to deprive Russian President Vladimir Putin of income to finance the war in Ukraine. The first time was in April, when he placed Gazprom Germania, a subsidiary of the Russian state gas company, under his tutelage in an unprecedented measure.
The decision to put the German subsidiaries of the Russian state oil company, Rosneft Deutschland and RN Refining & Marketing, under trusteeship of the Federal Network Agency was taken to ensure the operation of the Schwedt oil refineries – where the Druzhba pipeline reaches -, Karlsruhe and Vohburg, announced the German Ministry of Economy.
The background is the oil embargo on Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine. According to previous information from the German Ministry of Economy, the Russian operator Rosneft has little interest in departing from Russian oil.
Rosneft Deutschland represents a total of around % of Germany’s oil processing capacity, making it one of the largest oil processing companies in Germany, according to the ministry. Meanwhile, the two subsidiaries of Rosneft have so far imported crude oil worth several hundred million euros from Russia to Germany every month.
In this way, “the imminent threat to security of energy supply”, explained the Ministry while noting that service providers such as banks, telecommunications companies and insurance companies were no longer willing to cooperate with Rosneft, nor with the refineries with Rosneft participation nor with the refineries themselves. German subsidiaries of Rosneft, RDG and RNRM.
The guardianship order came into effect this Friday and is initially valid for six months. It allows the Federal Network Agency to dismiss and reappoint the members of the management and give instructions to the management.
The legal basis of the trust is a provision of the Energy Security Law. According to this, this step is possible if the company cannot fulfill its tasks in the service of the community and if there is a threat that the security of supply will be affected. An appeal against the decision can be filed within one month.
Key refineries
The PCK refinery in Schwedt, northern Germany, has about 1,171 employees and is considered an economic pillar of the region. It has so far been supplied with Russian crude through the Druzhba pipeline and supplies fuel to much of the northeast of the country.
The Mineralölraffinerie Oberrhein (MiRO) in Karlsruhe is the largest refinery in Germany, according to the company. The center has 1,100 employees who produce products such as gasoline, diesel or heating oil from crude, a total of about 14 million tons per year.
According to its own account, MiRO is the most important source of supply of mineral oil products for southwestern Germany.
The refinery, located in the Bavarian town of Vohburg, on the banks of the Danube, produces, among other things, liquefied gas, gasoline, diesel and heating oil, according to Bayernoil.
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