German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expects negotiations over shares of Russian state-owned Rosneft in the Brandenburg PCK oil refinery to be completed by the end of the year, he said Saturday at an event in Prenzlau, near Berlin.
The refinery supplies gasoline, diesel, heating oil and other products to northeastern Germany and will process exclusively Russian oil until 2022.
However, after the Kremlin launched a war against Ukraine, Germany rushed to find other energy sources and reduce its heavy dependence on Russian supplies.
Germany has stopped importing Russian oil and taken control of the refinery, which is largely owned by subsidiaries of Russia’s state oil company Rosneft. The future of the refinery is therefore uncertain.
Two German subsidiaries of Rosneft own about 54% of the refinery, a large industrial facility in the state of Brandenburg.
Currently they are managed by a trust, but they are supposed to be sold. The question of what will happen to the Russian shares has been an issue for years.
Negotiations are ongoing and that is why the government has repeatedly expanded its trust management, Scholz said. “We hope and assume that everything will be clear by the end of the year, so that the subsequent time can be used to finalize the matters.”
Meanwhile, the facility continues to operate at a lower capacity than before the switch. It began processing other sources in 2023 and draws some crude from Kazakhstan.
Scholz will visit Central Asia in the coming days. He will visit Kazakhstan and hold talks on the economy, energy, climate and the environment.
Speaking to the Brandenburg gathering, Scholz referred to his upcoming trip, promising to address the issue of the Central Asian oil refinery. “I have a lot to discuss, but this issue also plays a role,” he said.