The refinery in Schwedt supplies the capital region and large parts of the northeast with oil products, such as gasoline. So far, the PCK plant has obtained the raw material from Russia. That ends at the end of the year. For the first time, a delivery has now arrived in Brandenburg via a Polish pipeline.
The PCK refinery in Schwedt in north-eastern Brandenburg has received crude oil for the first time via the port in Gdansk, Poland. In addition to the refinery in Leuna (Saxony-Anhalt), Schwedt also has another alternative delivery route for non-Russian crude oil, the Federal Ministry of Economics announced. The oil goes via the Polish branch line “Pomeranian” to the Druzhba pipeline in Poland and on to Germany, it said. There was no information on the delivery quantity.
How much additional oil can be purchased via the port of Gdansk in the future remained unclear. For months, the question has been how to prevent supply bottlenecks and underutilization of the plant with the start of the oil embargo against Russia in January. The refinery in Schwedt supplies large parts of north-eastern Germany and the capital region with fuel.
“This is an important step for Schwedt’s security of supply,” said Parliamentary State Secretary Michael Kellner. Deliveries via Gdansk would have to be increased. There is a close exchange with the Polish government. According to the Federal Ministry of Economics, this first tanker load with European crude oil via Danzig was ordered by Shell – co-owner of PCK.
The background is the oil embargo against Russia because of the Ukraine war, which will take effect on January 1, 2023. Instead, the PCK refinery should be supplied via the ports of Rostock and Gdansk, it had been said for a long time. Oil from Kazakhstan is also under discussion. So far, the plant has been supplied with Russian oil primarily via the Druzhba pipeline.
