Business Insider: Germany in talks with Qatar over buying oil refinery in Germany

Business Insider reported on Wednesday that Qatar is in talks with the German government to buy a stake owned by Russian energy group Rosneft in the PCK Schwyz refinery in Germany, which Berlin had taken over after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Berlin had already taken over two Rosneft subsidiaries in September 2022, after the German government decided to stop importing oil from Russia to the refinery following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The two subsidiaries own a 54% majority stake in the Brandenburg refinery, which switched to other sources of supply last year.

Business Insider reported that Jörg Kokez, the state secretary at the German Chancellery, spoke four times with the CEO of the Qatar Investment Authority, Mansour bin Ibrahim al Mahmoud, about the potential deal.

From its part, the German government spokesman confirmed the contacts, but didn’t mention anything about the content of the talks.

Questions have been swirling in Germany for more than two years about what will happen to Russia’s stake in the refinery.

The German guardianship of Rosneft’s assets in Germany is due to expire on 10th of next month, but it could be extended.

Christian Gorke, a member of the Left Party in the German Bundestag, said, “it was strange that the federal government was negotiating with Qatar to sell the stake… Qatar owns a 20% stake in Rosneft”.

Gorke warned that if the two German companies were sold to Rosneft, which is owned by the Russian state, Moscow would continue to influence the process “from the back seat”.

Gorke said the German government should take the stake itself, noting that it was “unacceptable” that “part of Germany’s energy infrastructure is being offered as if in a bazaar”.