Refineries as strategic infrastructure: Reiche aims to secure German refineries
Economy Minister Reiche has launched talks with the oil industry on a refinery strategy, with results from working groups expected in the first quarter of 2027.
Archive image · Photo: Olaf Kosinsky / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 de (cropped and resized)
German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU) wants to preserve the country's refinery sites over the long term. Her ministry on Friday launched a dialogue with the oil industry that is also to involve the states, unions and affected sectors. It is meant to produce a refinery strategy to be presented to the Cabinet. Results from the working groups are expected in the first quarter of 2027.
"We want to maintain competitive refining capacity in Germany," Reiche said. "We closed refineries and traded that for import dependency." According to the ministry, Germany has 11 sites with a capacity of just over 92 million tonnes of crude oil a year, supplying fuels and feedstocks for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Of around 100 refineries operating in Europe in 2009, 30 have since closed or been converted.
Reiche also criticized the EU's planned methane regulation, saying it would harm refineries: "We will not allow that." Michael Vassiliadis, head of the IG BCE union, said a way must be found to make the EU emissions trading system economically manageable. Converting to sustainable feedstocks will require investments running into the billions, according to the ministry.