PCK jobs secured for 2023
Scholz defends oil import ban from Russia
11/26/2022, 5:16 p.m
From the new year, no more Russian oil is to be pumped to Germany by pipeline. Chancellor Scholz is sticking to this schedule and stresses that preparations for other delivery routes are well advanced. That’s why he doesn’t see any jobs at risk.
Despite open questions, Chancellor Olaf Scholz is sticking to the schedule for the import ban on Russian pipeline oil at the turn of the year as a reaction to the Ukraine war. “We are constantly preparing for the fact that there is a future, even if there is no longer any oil supply from the Russian pipelines for Schwedt (Brandenburg) and also for Leuna (Saxony-Anhalt),” said the SPD politician at the state party conference of the SPD Brandenburg in Cottbus. “We have envisaged that this should also be possible at the turn of the year.”
The Chancellor sees the preparations for alternative oil via the ports of Rostock and Danzig in Poland as going well. “We are working hard to create the technical prerequisites so that there are more options for oil deliveries via Rostock, but at the same time also from Poland.” This is being negotiated with those responsible in Poland. “It’s something that’s very advanced.” So far it is unclear how much oil will be processed at PCK in the future and which replacement deliveries will come via the ports of Rostock and Gdansk. Negotiations are also under way with Kazakhstan about oil supplies.
According to the federal government, all 1,200 jobs in the PCK refinery in Schwedt are secured for 2023. The shareholders Rosneft, Shell and Eni have agreed on a budget for the operating costs for the coming year, said the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, Michael Kellner, the German Press Agency. “Accordingly, layoffs for operational reasons can be ruled out in 2023. Everyone is responsible for ensuring that nobody is made redundant. That’s what we promised.”
Two-year employment guarantee
In mid-September, the federal government put the majority owners of PCK, two subsidiaries of the Russian state-owned company Rosneft, under trusteeship and thus under the control of the Federal Network Agency. At that time, the government had already given a two-year employment guarantee for the employees in the refinery in north-eastern Brandenburg. According to Kellner, this has now been implemented with the resolutions for 2023.
So far, the PCK has been supplied with Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline. However, the federal government wants to stop the purchase from January 1 because of the Russian attack on Ukraine. She is looking for alternative supply routes for the refinery. In the future, some of the required quantities are to be transported to Rostock by tanker and from there to Schwedt via a pipeline. However, more oil is needed for full utilization. The federal government is therefore negotiating with Poland about possible deliveries via Danzig. The import of oil from Kazakhstan via the Druzhba pipeline is also under discussion.
Scholz sees a good future for the PCK refinery. “The jobs are secure with the decisions we have made,” said Scholz. “With the economic support that we are providing for the transformation, it will also be the case that oil can be processed there for a long time to come.” At the same time, other new technologies could be developed that would make many additional jobs possible in Schwedt. The federal government had announced a support package for Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt (because of the Leuna refinery) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (because of the ports). PCK wants to produce green hydrogen on the site in the future.