Darstellung Ölpumpe und Ölabbau

© stock.adobe.com/Ded Pixto

On the basis of the Energy Security of Supply Act, the Federal Government has today placed Rosneft Deutschland GmbH (RDG) und RN Refining & Marketing GmbH (RNRM) under the fiduciary management of the Bundesnetzagentur (Federal Network Agency). This means that the Bundesnetzagentur is assuming control of Rosneft Deutschland and thus also its respective shares in the three refineries PCK Schwedt, MiRo (Karlsruhe) and Bayernoil (Vohburg). Rosneft Deutschland holds a total of around 12% of German oil refining capacity, making it one of the largest oil-processing companies in Germany. The fiduciary management counters the impending risk to the security of the energy supply, and lays a key foundation stone for the maintenance and future of the Schwedt operation. The decision is accompanied by a comprehensive “future package”, which will give a boost to the transformation of the region and support the refinery, with the supply of oil being ensured via alternative routes. So far, the PCK refinery in Schwedt has been dependent on deliveries of Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline. The future package will be presented at 1.30 p.m. today in the Federal Chancellery by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Economic Affairs Minister Robert Habeck and the Minister-President of Brandenburg, Dietmar Woidke.

Information about the fiduciary management:

The German Rosneft subsidiaries – Rosneft Deutschland GmbH (RDG) and RN Refining & Marketing GmbH (RNRM) – have been placed under fiduciary management; each month they import several hundred million euros worth of crude oil from Russia to Germany. The reason for the imposition of fiduciary management is that the maintenance of business operations in the affected refineries was jeopardised in view of the ownership situation of the companies. Central critical service providers like suppliers, insurance companies, IT firms and banks, but also clients, were no longer willing to work together with Rosneft – neither with refineries in which Rosneft held a stake, nor with Germany’s Rosneft subsidiaries, RDG and RNRM.

The legal basis of the order is section 17 of the Energy Security of Supply Act. According to this provision, a company which operates critical infrastructure in the energy sector can be placed under fiduciary management if there is a specific danger that, without fiduciary management, the company will not fulfil its tasks serving the functioning of the commonweal in the energy sector, and there is a danger that the security of supply will be impaired. Following the issuing of the order, the shareholders can no longer exercise their voting rights, and their powers to dispose of and manage the company are restricted.

The Bundesnetzagentur is acting as the fiduciary manager; the voting rights deriving from the shareholdings are transferred to it.

The order imposing the fiduciary management was issued by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. It took effect on 16 September 2022 when it was published in the Federal Gazette, and is initially effective for 6 months. The RDG and the  RNRM must bear the costs of the fiduciary management themselves.