Poland's Unimot in talks to buy Shell's stake in German Schwedt refinery -sources

Unimot SA

25/09/2023 17:52

By Riham Alkousaa and Andreas Rinke
       BERLIN, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Poland's Unimot  UNTP.WA 
has emerged as one of the possible buyers of a 37.5% stake oil
major Shell  SHEL.L  owns in Germany's PCK Schwedt refinery, two
people familiar with the matter said.
    The refinery, which is majority-owned by Russia's Rosneft
 ROSN.MM , has been a problem for the German government ever
since Berlin ended its energy ties with Moscow last year.
    As a result, Germany put Rosneft's 54.17% stake under
trusteeship, essentially giving the government control over the
asset while technically leaving ownership in the Russian group's
hands.
    That led Shell to revive plans to sell its stake in
Germany's fourth-largest refinery, which supplies 90% of
Berlin's fuel, earlier this year.
    "Unimot is one of the possible buyers of the Shell share,
but not the only one," a government source told Reuters.
    Unimot last year said it was expanding international trading
as it sought to import diesel to Germany amid European Union
sanctions on Russian oil and refined products.
    Germany is also no longer considering Kazakhstan's
KazMunayGas  KMGZ.KZ  and its subsidiary Kaztransoil  KZTO.KZ 
as possible buyers of the stake as they cannot guarantee the
necessary stability for Schwedt, the source added.
    Shell, Unimot and Germany's Economy Ministry, which is
responsible for the trusteeship of Rosneft's stake in Schwedt,
all declined to comment. Rosneft Germany did not immediately
reply to a request for comment.

 (Reporting by Riham Alkousaa and Andreas Rinke in Berlin;
Additional reporting by Anna Koper in Warsaw; Editing by
Christoph Steitz and Sharon Singleton)
 ((Riham.Alkousaa@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: @RihamKousa;))