BERLIN, April 4 (Reuters) – Germany said on Monday its quest to reduce dependence on Russian oil is a high-priority effort, shaming President Vladimir Putin while it works to “lay the groundwork” for a full To create a stop to energy imports from Russia.
Economy Minister Robert Habeck was asked in a government press conference whether the deaths of civilians in Ukraine would prompt Germany, which is heavily dependent on Russia for energy, to support an energy embargo against Russia.
“We work every day to create the conditions and steps towards an embargo, and from the point of view of the federal government and also from my point of view, this is the right way, which harms Putin every day,” he said.
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The next step would be to “reduce and eliminate the dependence of Russian influence on oil infrastructure,” he said, specifically citing Russia’s Rosneft (ROSN.MM) 54.2 percent stake in an east German refinery, PCK Schwedt .
The government is “working flat out” to resolve this dependency, he said.
Schwedt gets most of its crude oil via Russia’s Druzhba pipeline through Poland.
Germany is tightening sanctions against Russian leaders and politicians, as well as Russian tech goods and financial flows, but so far has been reluctant to stop itself from getting oil, gas and coal, arguing that disrupting its economy would do more harm than that Kremlin.
Germany faces a severe recession if imports or supplies of Russian gas and oil are halted, a leading German banking lobby warned on Monday. Continue reading
An offer agreed last November by Rosneft to increase its stake in Schwedt to 91.67% has been blocked and is being examined by Habeck’s ministry. Continue reading
As for Russian gas, Russian incumbent Gazprom (GAZP.MM) on Friday divested various companies in Germany grouped under its subsidiary Gazprom Germania, which also operates some assets and services in the UK, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Continue reading
It remains unclear whether the federal government wants to commission someone to operate the activities, in particular the gas storage caverns of the Astora subsidiary, on German sovereign territory.
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Reporting by Joseph Nasr and Vera Eckert; Adaptation by Paul Carrel, William Maclean
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