Shell’s Planned Sale Of Rosneft’s Refinery In Germany Hits A Wall

Shell Plc's (NYSE:SHEL) planned sale of a stake in the Schwedt refinery in Germany is facing delays due to pending lawsuits by third parties, Reuters has reported. Shell's planned sale of its 37.5% stake in the refinery to Britain's Prax Group, was expected to close in the first half of 2024; however, the deal has hit a snag after Berlin stripped majority owner Rosneft of its control, but not its shares, and put it under a trusteeship shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The lawsuits include an attempt by Rosneft to prevent the sale to Prax.

Berlin is looking to nationalize Rosneft's German assets, including its 54.17% stake in the Schwedt refinery. According to German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, the process to dissolve the trusteeship has begun within the government and is currently at the hearing stage. Berlin has extended the trusteeship twice.

Previously, Poland reassured Germany that it could step in and supply the Schwedt refinery with crude if Kazakh oil supplies were halted in possible retaliation for Berlin's moves against Rosneft. Poland says it's capable of  replacing the whole Kazakh volume, about 1-1.2 MMtpy

The three refineries run by Rosneft Germany provide some 12% of Germany's total refining capacity, and the Schwedt refinery near Berlin is key. This refinery, on the border with Poland, supplies fuel to the Berlin-Brandenburg region. The oil that feeds these refineries comes from the Druzhba pipeline, which previously transported Russian oil to Germany via Ukraine. The refineries were set up specifically to refine this oil. 

Whereas the Russian oil that goes through Druzhba was not included in the EU's oil embargo, Germany, nevertheless, stopped importing Russian crude and replaced it with oil from Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan was able to reach an agreement with Russian energy company Transneft to use the Druzhba pipeline to export oil via Russia and Belarus to Adamowo-Zastawa in Poland. 

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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