Schwedt, the Uckermark and the PCK refinery would have to struggle if they stopped using Russian oil. It has therefore been discussed for a long time that the refinery will obtain more oil via the port of Rostock. Operator Rosneft has another proposed solution.
According to business associations, the operator Rosneft has proposed a solution for the PCK refinery in Schwedt, Brandenburg, which is affected by the oil embargo against Russia. According to this, Kazakh pipeline oil together with tanker oil from Rostock could probably ensure 100 percent of the continued operation of the plant from 2023, it said in a statement.
Should all else fail, Russian oil must continue to flow through the Druzhba pipeline, the associations demanded. In the statement, the interest group of the business associations in East Germany and Berlin, the business association Uckermark and the business association Brandenburg-Berlin expressed themselves after a conversation with Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Michael Kellner.
Kazakh oil has been under discussion for Schwedt for some time. It would also come via the Druzhba pipeline but, unlike Russian oil, would not be affected by the EU embargo. At the moment, Schwedt, Uckermark and the PCK refinery see themselves as the victims of the government's decision to stop using Russian oil from 2023, the business associations said.
"The decisive factor is that PCK GmbH can continue to produce at full capacity from January 2023." This is also necessary for security of supply in north-eastern Germany. The federal government is looking for other supply routes for PCK. After a few improvements, an existing pipeline from the Rostock port to Schwedt could cover up to 65 percent of the refinery's requirements by the end of the year.
Kazakhstan was long considered Russia's closest partner alongside Belarus. But since the beginning of July there has been an alienation effect between the two former Soviet republics: First, at the economic forum in St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin more or less unvarnished Russian claims to all former Soviet republics - which caused concern in the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan.
In response, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Toyakev publicly stressed that Kazakhstan would never recognize the independence of the breakaway Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
