THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS OUTWIT PUTIN
September 16, 2022 -Durt Fibo

Today Germany announced that it had effectively confiscated and nationalized 2 subsidiaries of the Russian oil colossus Rosneft. In total, the government will move the German units of Rosneft Deutschland GmbH and RN Refining & Marketing GmbH and 3 refineries into the administration of its BnetzA (Bundesnetzagentur), or Federal Network Agency, the regulatory department for gas, electricity,, telecommunications, postal and railway markets. The expropriations are legally covered by Germany’s Energy Safety Act.

Germany has determined to cease all purchases of Russian crude by the end of this year. As of now, however, the BnetzA will manage all Russian shares in the PCK Schwedt, MiRo and Bayernoil refineries. These account for some 12% of Germany’s oil processing capacity. Earlier, on April 4th, Chancellor Olaf Scholz had transferred the German subsidiary of the Russian Gazprom (Gazprom Germania) to the stewardship of BnetzA, as Russia had abandoned its operations enough to render it useless.

This summer the German state investment KfW bank loaned the freshly nationalized Gazprom Germania 10 billion euros to get it up and running; its insolvency was another component of Putin’s efforts to reverse-embargo Europe. The bank is and has been on standby to continue financing the national German countermoves, in which the energy brokers, buyers, producers and distributors are grouped as the SEFE (Securing Energy for Europe). As they are taking over German-based operations, Germany’s ruling coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and the Free Democrats are launching further billion-euro financial rockets to reach escape velocity as they head towards a greener energy infrastructure. One billion euros will go to pay the 1,200 workers of the PCK refinery in Schwedt. The refinery will soon be receiving oil through a pipeline from the port of Rostock and through Poland, which had until now blocked any delivery because it would not allow profits from any such process to enrich the Russian-owned PJSC Rosneft Oil Company.