About owners of PCK refinery
Brandenburg expects longer trust administration
8/31/2023, 6:12 p.m
A year ago, out of concern for security of supply, the federal government imposed trusteeship on the majority owners of the oil refinery PCK in Schwedt. This means that the Federal Network Agency is practically in charge of the Rosneft subsidiaries and the refinery. Now the rule could be extended.
According to the Brandenburg state government, the federal government will probably extend the trusteeship of the majority owners of the oil refinery PCK in Schwedt. “I am very firmly assuming that the trusteeship will be extended for another six months,” said Economics Minister Jörg Steinbach from the SPD. “I think that’s right too.”
The refinery in Schwedt in the Uckermark supplies large parts of north-eastern Germany with fuel. It is majority owned by two daughters of the Russian state-owned company Rosneft. Until the end of 2022, PCK mainly processed crude oil from Russia. As part of the sanctions against Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the German government decided not to use Russian oil. As an alternative, oil comes via Danzig and Rostock as well as from Kazakhstan. The supply is more than 80 percent and is stable, said Steinbach.
The federal government imposed a trusteeship over Rosneft Germany and RN Refining & Marketing, the majority owners of PCK, in September 2022. He justified this with an impending threat to security of supply as a result of the Russian attack on Ukraine. The federal government had complained that the majority owners had no interest in turning away from Russian oil. The federal government extended the status by six months in March, which is now expiring.
The Federal Ministry of Economics did not comment specifically on the question of the extension. “The trust will run until mid-September,” said a spokeswoman. “I can’t speculate on anything else, including any ownership issues.”
Federal Administrative Court confirms trust administration
With the trust administration, the Federal Network Agency has practically the say in the Rosneft subsidiaries and in the refinery on behalf of the federal government. Rosneft had sued the trusteeship, and the Federal Administrative Court upheld it. Since a decision by the Bundestag, the federal government has more rights for companies in trust administration. In essence, it is about being able to sell shares in companies under trust management more easily.
Steinbach also expects the course to be set soon for the sale of PCK shares in oil and gas supplier Shell. “I expect Shell to make a decision to sell in the next few weeks,” he said. “This must be awaited before a decision can be made on another new ownership structure for Rosneft’s shares.” Shell Germany holds 37.5 percent of the PCK refinery.