Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) speaks to the staff of the PCK refinery against the background of the planned EU oil embargo against Russia Photo: Monika Skolimowska/dpa
From BZ/dpa
The federal government sees good chances of maintaining the PCK refinery with around 1,200 employees in the event of an oil embargo by the European Union against Russia.
“Right from the start, it was always about maintaining this PCK site as a company as fully as possible,” said Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) on Monday during a visit to the refinery in front of hundreds of employees.
The preparations for new oil wells via ships via Rostock, for the financing of losses by the federal government and for a possible trust structure – the Russian state-owned company Rosneft is currently the majority owner – are already underway. “If all three work, then you have job security for the near future. (…) We need Schwedt.”
The refinery in Schwedt supplies Berlin with 90 percent of the oil, which in turn comes 100 percent from Russia Photo: ppl;cse; fox
However, the Economics Minister again warned of possible supply bottlenecks. “So that can also go wrong in different places,” said Habeck. “It will not happen that the whole construct fails as a whole.” He is also looking to the future, not to process more oil.
Habeck (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) during his visit to Schwedt Photo: Monika Skolimowska/dpa
PCK boss Ralf Schairer said: “We are doing everything to ensure our continued existence.” Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) demanded: “The supply must work. We are talking about critical infrastructure here.”
The EU Commission plans to phase out Russian crude oil supplies for Germany and most other EU countries within six months. The “Druschba” (friendship) pipeline from Russia ends in Schwedt in Brandenburg. The oil is processed at PCK.
