The German government announced on Friday that it had seized control of Rosneft’s activities in Germany, where the Russian oil group operates many refineries, in order to “guarantee” the national energy supply.
And the Ministry of Economy said in a statement that the branches of Rosneft in Germany, which represent 12 percent of the national oil refining capacity, were placed under the “guardianship” of the national agency responsible for managing energy networks.
The ministry explained that the aim of this measure is to “make a major contribution to ensuring the future of the Shevit refinery” in the east of the country on the border with Poland.
The Russian group controls this refinery, which secures the supply of oil products to the capital and its region, Berlin.
The refinery’s activities are currently witnessing great confusion following the government decided to significantly reduce Russian oil imports, to be completely dispensed with by the end of the year.
By placing their hand on the site, the German authorities will be able to control themselves the refinery’s supply of oil imported from suppliers other than Russia.
The decision to seize includes the subsidiaries of Rosneft Germany and “RN Refining and Marketing”, which owns shares in three large refineries in the country, Schweit, Miro and Bayern Oil.
The move comes weeks following Russian energy giant Gazprom halted gas flows to Europe via Germany.
Later, the Kremlin confirmed that stopping Russian gas supplies to Germany via the strategic Nord Stream pipeline stemmed from a mistake made by Western countries, because their sanctions prevented the maintenance of gas infrastructure.
The Russian giant did not specify a specific date for the resumption of gas supplies to the European continent via Nord Stream.
