Page 16 - EurOil Week 33 2022
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EurOil                                 PROJECTS & COMPANIES                                            EurOil














































       Germany's Schwedt refinery samples




       US sour crude




        GERMANY          GERMANY’S Schwedt refinery is reportedly  Reuters, Mars has a higher distillate content than
                         procuring a cargo of sour crude from the US, as  the US WTI and Eagle Ford grades, which will
      Meanwhile, the German   the plant scrambles for alternatives to Russian  enable Schwedt to turn out more diesel, jet fuel
      government continues   crude ahead of the German government’s target  and gasoil. This is key, as Russia is a major sup-
      its effort to wressle   to halt purchases from its main oil supplier at the  plier of diesel to Germany.
      control of the plant   end of this year.                  While the EU’s embargo on Russian oil due
      away from Rosneft.   Refinitiv ship-tracking data cited by Reu-  to come into force in December this year only
                         ters showed that the Capricorn Sun tanker was  affects seaborne shipments and not deliveries
                         loaded with the 570,000-barrel batch of Mars  via the Druzhba system, the German govern-
                         Sour crude off the Louisiana coast and unloaded  ment has committed to ceasing all Russian oil
                         it at the German port of Rostock on August 3.  purchases by the end of the year.
                         The tanker was chartered by Shell, a shareholder   Meanwhile, German authorities are strug-
                         in the 233,000-barrel per day (bpd) Schwedt  gling to wrest control of Schwedt from Rosneft,
                         plant, which is under the majority control of  given the plant’s strategic importance as the sup-
                         Russia’s state-owned Rosneft.        plier of 90% of the capital Berlin’s fuel needs. Shell
                           Both Schwedt and the Leuna refinery con-  has offered to step in to run the plant, according
                         tinue to receive Russia’s Urals medium sour oil  to past Reuters reports, and Poland’s PKN Orlen
                         blend via the Druzhba pipeline system, but both  has also been approached to be an operator.
                         are also connected to the Rostok oil terminal via   Germany could expropriate the refinery, cit-
                         pipeline, making it possible for them to access  ing national security grounds, having updated
                         alternative supplies from Norway, Saudi Arabia,  its national security laws recently to allow such
                         the UK and the US.                   a move. But the fear is that this will provoke the
                           Germany is a relatively small buyer of US  Kremlin to respond by further reducing gas sup-
                         crude, importing only about 77,000 bpd from  ply to Germany, or expropriating German assets
                         the country last year, while overall US exports  in Russia. These include major upstream assets
                         amounted to almost 3mn bpd. According to  held by Germany’s Wintershall Dea. ™



       P16                                      www. NEWSBASE .com                         Week 33   18•August•2022
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