Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) sees security for the fuel supply in the region and for the PCK refinery, despite the oil embargo effective January 1st. “The PCK in Schwedt ensures that the wheels roll in Brandenburg. It has a far-reaching importance for the security of supply throughout Germany,” said Woidke of the German Press Agency. “I assume that the supply will also be ensured after January 1st.”
The head of government emphasized that the federal government was obliged to ensure a secure supply. “The federal government made the political decision to introduce an embargo on pipeline oil from Russia,” said Woidke. “We support the security of the PCK refinery and its further development into a modern industrial site to the best of our ability.”
Woidke was pleased that the federal government had guaranteed the jobs of around 1,200 refinery employees for two years. “I’m glad that we managed to secure employment at the site for the next two years,” he said. “The PCK employees must not suffer from the current uncertainty in the oil supply.”
According to the German government, the import of Russian oil via the “Druzhba” pipeline is to be stopped at the turn of the year. Among others, the refinery PCK in Schwedt/Oder is affected. The federal government has announced that crude oil will alternatively flow via the ports of Rostock and Gdansk in order to utilize 70 percent of PCK’s capacity. In addition, crude oil is to come from Kazakhstan. The federal government also gave a job guarantee and announced billions in investments for the conversion of the refinery. According to PCK, nine out of ten cars in Berlin and Brandenburg run on fuel from Schwedt.
The head of government demanded that consumers in countries with a lot of wind power, such as in Brandenburg, not have to pay more for electricity than those in other countries. “For the acceptance of renewable energies, we finally need a fair distribution of the connection costs to all electricity customers,” said Woidke.
“Wherever renewable energies are connected, the costs for the connection are passed on directly to the region.” According to the Federal Network Agency, the highest electricity grid fees are in rural areas, especially in the northern and new federal states.
