Poland says further oil help for Germany depends on ending Russian ownership
Germany #Germany
Industrial facilities of PCK Oil Raffinerie are pictured in Schwedt/Oder. The company receives crude oil from Russia via the ‘Friendship’ pipeline, Germany, May 9, 2022. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Register
WARSAW, May 12 (Reuters) – Poland will only help Germany to seek further alternatives to Russian oil if it ends the Russian ownership of the PCK Schwedt refinery, Poland’s climate minister said on Thursday.
The German government is exploring options to cut dependency on Russian energy, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said last month, leaving open the possibility of expropriating the Schwedt refinery, which is majority-owned by Russian state-owned Rosneft.
Some of the oil processed by TotalEnergies’ (TTEF.PA) Leuna, refinery in Germany is non-Russian crude shipped by pipeline from a sea terminal in Gdansk, Poland, and Poland and Germany are in talks on further reducing Germany’s dependency on Russian oil.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Register
“We are working on a solution day by day in our companies and our governments,” Polish Climate Minister Anna Moskwa said on Thursday. “Our fundamental condition for any solution to be implemented is an end of Russian ownership at the Schwedt refinery. No business model will be possible on our part without this.”
Moskwa said the model for future cooperation would be based on rationalising the supplies available for Germany and Poland, as well as support for Ukraine, which is struggling with fuel shortages. “We are working on a business model for this. The assumption is to have enough oil in Poland and in Germany and to have no Russian oil at all. We can use infrastructure in Schwedt, Leuna and Gdansk. It’s a business model. It won’t be charity,” she said.
Naftoport, the oil terminal in Gdansk, can reload 36 million tons of oil per year, above the needs of Polish refiners that process some 27 million tons per year. State-owned group PERN, the majority-owner of Naftoport, said the facility has potential to increase supplies to Germany.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Register
Reporting by Marek Strzelecki; editing by Barbara Lewis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.