German Economy and Energy Minister Robert Habeck said on Wednesday that Germany was on the verge of achieving independence from Russian oil imports, which is why an embargo would be “manageable” by now.
Before the start of the war in Ukraine, Germany imported 35% of its oil from Russia, a percentage that the government managed to reduce to 12%, which corresponds to imports made through the Schwedt refinery, in the east of the country.
As Habeck explained in a video released by the Ministry of Economy and Energy, Germany is looking for alternatives for the use of this refinery, operated by Russian state-owned Rosneft, and has not ruled out a possible expropriation of the facilities.
The minister pointed out that Rosneft has no interest in using this infrastructure to refine non-Russian oil.
“If I call them and ask ‘what are you doing to become independent from Russian oil?’ they won’t answer the phone,” he argued, recalling that during his visit to Poland yesterday he explored with his Polish counterpart possible solutions to replace imports arriving at Schwedt.
Warsaw, for example, could supply oil by sea through the northern German port of Rostock, but Habeck said the Polish government “legitimately” refuses to export oil to Germany to keep a plant running. operated by Rosneft.
“But we are talking about a situation where Germany supports Poland and Poland supports Germany if Rosneft is no longer the operator of the refinery,” said the minister without giving further details.
Asked about the matter at a press conference in Berlin, Habeck said that neither option could be ruled out, as the government “must be prepared for all scenarios”.
“It was a mistake to leave critical infrastructure in the hands of a Russian state-owned company,” he said, harshly criticizing the previous executive’s policy in this regard.
On the other hand, he stressed that a sudden supply cut or an oil embargo would be “manageable” at this time.
“This means that it would not be noticed”, he assured, stressing that the higher prices and eventual interruptions of supply will have to be considered, “but there will not be a national economic catastrophe”.
