Germany’s Schwedt oil refinery reported low profits, highlighting the difficulties facing the country. Berlin refused to use Russian oil, instead making plans to find alternative suppliers. Poland partnered with Germany in this quest. However, until now, they have been struggling to keep up with demand.
Schwedt has traditionally supplied 90% of the gasoline, fuel oil, diesel and jet fuel used in Berlin. But the refinery is running at 50-60% capacity after three months since the German government and Warsaw agreed to work together. In the meantime, those alternate supplies have yet to show up.
Last month, Russia retaliated against the bilateral efforts of the two European countries. Moscow stopped oil flows to Poland, halting its delivery through the Druzhba pipeline. As a result, Poland is now unable to release a sufficient amount of oil for Schwedt. In addition, PKN Orlen, a refinery controlled by the Polish state, has to use more capacity at the Gdansk oil terminal. Otherwise, you will not be able to feed your own Plock refinery.
Consequently, Schwedt can only have one tanker position in Gdansk per month. That’s roughly 1 million metric tons of oil per year. Unfortunately, that equates to only a third of the volume countries need.
Germany sanctioned for using Russian oil due to Ukraine war
Berlin stopped buying Russian raw materials in January. This decision was part of its sanctions against Russia after the latter invaded Ukraine. The Schwedt refinery previously accounted for 233,000 barrels per day. But since January, it has been running at 55% capacity, producing about 130,000 barrels a day. It was also heavily dependent on pipeline supplies from the port of Rostock. The latter is in northern Germany.
Sources in Germany and Poland noted that supplies through Poland have only produced two tankers so far. Two countries began discussing the shipment of non-Russian oil to Schwedt through Polish pipelines (the port of Gdansk and Druzhba) in early spring last year.
