In order to secure the operation of the refineries in Schwedt, Karlsruhe and Vohburg, the federal government places the crude oil importers Rosneft Germany (RDG) and RN Refining & Marketing GmbH under trusteeship of the Federal Network Agency.
This was announced by the Federal Ministry of Economics on Friday morning in Berlin.
The Federal Network Agency is thus taking control of Rosneft Germany and thus also of the respective share in the three refineries PCK Schwedt, MiRo (Karlsruhe) and Bayernoil (Vohburg), the ministry announced.
The trust management will take effect this Friday and is initially limited to six months.
The companies concerned have to bear the costs for this.
A "comprehensive package for the future"
The background is the oil embargo against Russia because of the Ukraine war, which will take effect on January 1, 2023.
The Russian operator Rosneft has little interest in turning away from Russian oil, according to earlier information from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
According to the ministry, Rosneft Germany accounts for around twelve percent of Germany's oil processing capacity, making it one of the largest oil processing companies in Germany.
The trusteeship is a reaction to the imminent threat to the security of the energy supply and is an essential cornerstone for the preservation of the Schwedt location.
For Schwedt there should also be a "comprehensive package for the future" that should bring a "transformation push" for the region and support the refinery so that the supply of oil is secured via alternative delivery routes.
To date, the PCK refinery has been dependent on supplies of Russian crude oil via the Druzhba pipeline.
The so-called future package is to be presented at noon in the Federal Chancellery by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and the Prime Minister of the State of Brandenburg, Dietmar Woidke (SPD).
PCK has around 1200 employees and is considered the economic pillar of the region around Schwedt.
The refinery supplies large parts of north-eastern Germany with fuel.
According to the ministry, the German subsidiaries of the Russian state oil company Rosneft, RDG and RNRM, import crude oil worth several hundred million euros from Russia to Germany every month.
The reason for the trust administration's order was that the continuation of the business operations of the affected refineries was in danger due to the ownership status of the companies.
Central service providers such as suppliers, insurance companies, banks, IT companies and banks, but also customers, were no longer willing to work with Rosneft - neither with refineries with Rosneft participation nor with the German Rosneft subsidiaries, RDG and RNRM, themselves.