Energy - Schwedt refinery: Shell wants to sell shares in oil company
The energy group Shell wants to sell its 37.5 percent stake in the large East German refinery PCK Schwedt to the British Prax Group. This was announced by Shell on Friday. The company expects the deal to be completed in the first half of 2024, making the future of the important industrial plant in north-eastern Germany a little clearer. For the time being, nothing should change for the supply of petrol and diesel to consumers and kerosene to the capital's BER airport.
Shell announced the sale of its shares years ago. The Austrian Alcmene Group was long considered the most likely buyer. However, the takeover of the Shell shares announced in 2021 did not materialize. This is because the Russian Rosneft Group, which owns a good 54% of the shares in PCK via two subsidiaries, asserted a right of first refusal.
Following the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the conversion of the oil supply for the refinery, the Rosneft shares are now under trustee administration by the federal government. There are also rights of first refusal for the sale of Shell shares this time, including for the other minority shareholder Eni, which owns 8.3 percent of the refinery. Shell therefore stated that the deal was "subject to the rights of the partners and regulatory approvals".
The British Prax Group is an internationally active oil company. It trades in crude oil, petroleum products and biofuels. According to its own information, it has 1450 employees at eight locations worldwide. Prax is very small compared to Shell, another British company with more than 90,000 employees worldwide and an annual turnover of 380 billion US dollars.
Shell - also known in Germany for the service station network of the same name - justifies the sale by stating that it is "reducing its global refinery portfolio to core locations that are integrated in the centers of Shell's operating activities". Executive Vice President Machteld de Haan said: "This is another important milestone on the way to a focused refinery portfolio and the development of high-quality, integrated sites such as the Energy&Chemicals Park Rheinland."
According to dpa information, however, there will be no changes to the supply of crude oil to the PCK refinery via the ports of Rostock and Gdansk or to the distribution of refined products in north-eastern Germany and western Poland. According to PCK, nine out of ten cars in Berlin and Brandenburg run on petrol and diesel from Schwedt.
The plant can process up to twelve million tons of crude oil per year. For decades, the crude oil came from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline. Following a decision by the German government, the supply was stopped and switched to deliveries of tanker oil and oil from Kazakhstan.
Information on the Prax Group Website of the PCK refinery
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- The British Prax Group, known for its involvement in crude oil, petroleum products, and biofuels, aims to acquire Shell's 37.5% stake in the PCK Schwedt refinery in northeast Germany.
- Shell's decision to sell its shares in PCK Schwedt, an important industrial plant in Austria-adjacent Brandenburg, is expected to be finalized in the first half of 2024.
- Despite Shell's intention to sell its shares, the future of the refinery remains unclear due to rights of first refusal held by minority shareholder Eni and the federal government, as well as regulatory approvals.
- Prax Group, which operates with 1450 employees across the globe, is significantly smaller in size compared to Shell, a multinational energy company headquartered in the UK with over 90,000 employees worldwide and an annual revenue of 380 billion USD.
- The energy group Shell, well-known for its service station network in Germany, justifies the sale by aiming to reduce its global refinery portfolio to core locations that are integrated with its main regional operating activities.
- The PCK Schwedt refinery remains a significant supplier of petrol and diesel to vehicles in Berlin and Brandenburg, with nine out of ten cars in the region relying on fuel processed there.
- Despite the potential sale of Shell's stake, there will be no changes to the supply of crude oil to the refinery or to the distribution of refined products in Northeast Germany and western Poland.
- The PCK Schwedt refinery, capable of processing up to twelve million tons of crude oil per year, has undergone changes in its crude oil supply since the German government's decision to halt deliveries from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline.
Source: www.stern.de
