Contrary the summer announcement, Shell is not selling its 37.5% stake in the German joint venture PCK Raffinerie (Schwedt; www.pck.de) to Estonian oil logistics company Liwathon Group (see Plasteurope.com of 14.07.2021). The Russian partner in the JV, energy giant Rosneft, has used its right of first refusal and is taking over the entire Shell share, the consortium announced. The Russian group now holds more than 91% of PCK, with Italy’s Eni owning the remaining stake of just over 8%.

PCK lies on the western end of the Russia’s “Druzhba” oil pipeline. In addition to the refinery, Plasteurope.com’s Polyglobe database (www.polyglobe.net) says the site includes capacity of 250,000 t/y for propylene, 70,000 t/y for benzene, and 50,000 t/y for toluene. Additionally, the facility has production available for PET precursors, with 70,000 t/y cited for PX and 85,000 t/y for PTA.

Furthermore, Shell announced in early November that it would stop processing crude oil at its Wesseling / Germany refinery by 2025. It instead intends to make hydrogen and and biogenic feedstock. However, the plans are in their initial phase, according to Shell Germany, and the final investment decision is pending. Crude oil refining operations are to continue in Cologne-Godorf / Germany.

In addition to the installing an electrolyser to make hydrogen at the Wesseling site, the company is planning a bio-LNG plant and a bio-power-to-liquid (PTL) facility for producing synthetic aviation fuels and raw gasoline from green electricity and biomass.