After initial hesitation, the federal government wants to support the oil embargo proposed by the EU Commission, although a central supply issue for East Germany has not been clarified: what will happen to the PCK refinery in Schwedt, Brandenburg, which is majority owned by the Russian company Rosneft and which large parts of the new federal states and the capital supplied?

The refinery is connected to Russia's Druzhba pipeline.

If this is boycotted, operations must be suspended.

Corinna Budras

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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Christian Geinitz

Business correspondent in Berlin

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Henrik Kafsack

Business correspondent in Brussels.

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Andreas Mihm

Business correspondent for Austria, Central and Eastern Europe and Turkey based in Vienna.

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According to the will of the Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens), Schwedt could be filled from Danzig or Rostock, but the PCK apparently does not want to.

The group, whose board of directors is headed by Gerhard Schröder (SPD), reports to the Kremlin.

He has no interest in Schwedt refining other people's oil.

On the contrary, it would suit Moscow if bottlenecks occurred in Germany.

And that is a thoroughly realistic scenario: Petrol stations, households and companies are supplied with petrol, diesel or heating oil from Schwedt by the mineral oil companies, and the planes that take off from the major airport in Berlin-Brandenburg are also refueled with PCK kerosene.

"The federal government willingly accepts that the energy supply in Berlin and Brandenburg will be seriously endangered," complained left-wing MP Klaus Ernst,

the chairman of the Energy Committee in the Bundestag.

Brandenburg's Economics Minister Jörg Steinbach (SPD) also warned: If the plant on the Oder stops working, there could be supply problems.

excitement on the spot

Then the 1,200 jobs in the refinery would also be in danger, and the excitement on site would be correspondingly great.

The parliamentary state secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, Michael Kellner, therefore got an idea of ​​the situation at the beginning of the week.

"As the federal government, we will do everything we can to prevent the lights going out there," said Kellner on Wednesday in an interview with the FAZ podcast for Germany.

Different scenarios are being prepared to ensure security of supply in the region.

As an example, he cited a trustee model that Habeck chose for the Gazprom storage facility.

Habeck would probably prefer that Rosneft voluntarily withdraw from PCK.

A technical insolvency also seems possible.

The new owners could then buy oil elsewhere and ensure operations.

If the impasse drags on until June, it would also be possible to place Schwedt under trusteeship or even nationalize it with the new Energy Security Act that has been passed by then.

This is what a suggestion by Claudia Kemfert from the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) amounts to.

She spoke out in favor of expropriating the oil refinery.

The PCK refinery is dealing with huge amounts: the last 12 percent of total German oil demand that cannot yet be replaced from other sources.

While other refineries are allowing their contracts with Russia to expire, PCK refuses because the plant is majority-owned by the Russian state-owned raw materials group Rosneft.

He is also the supplier of the oil and does not want to turn off the tap himself.