The German government should be able to intervene in the market situation in the event of an energy crisis and, if necessary, expropriate the property of companies.

This is provided for by an amendment to the Energy Security Law, which was discussed for the first time in the Bundestag on Friday, Deutsche Welle reports.

Oliver Krischer, Parliamentary State Secretary to the German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, said the changes should come into force as soon as possible.

According to Krischer, innovations can become the basis for the PCK Oil Refinery, Schwed, almost completely controlled by the Russian Rosneft, to come under German state control.

Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Robert Habeck said earlier that in the eight weeks that have passed since the start of the Russian war in Ukraine, Germany's dependence on Russian oil has been reduced from 35% to 12%. The continuation of this process calls into question the further role of the refinery in Schwedt. Khabek sees a possible Western oil embargo on Russia as a "solvable" issue.

Oliver Krischer, in turn, noted that expropriation as a last resort should be possible under clearly defined and very limited conditions. It is unacceptable for the owner of a critical energy infrastructure to jeopardize supplies, the secretary of state added.

Michael Kruse, a politician of the Free Democratic Party who specializes in energy issues, agrees with his opinion.

In 2021, of the 28.1 million tons of oil that Germany imported from Russia, more than two-thirds came through the Druzhba pipeline. In the east of Germany, at the beginning of 2022, two large refineries were completely dependent on Druzhba - PCK Raffinerie in Schwedt on the border with Poland and a plant in Leuna southwest of Berlin.

As Thomas Pulse, author of the study at the Institute for German Economics in Cologne (IW), previously explained to DW, the Schwedt plant could receive about two-thirds of the crude oil it needs via pipeline from the port of Rostock. The latter, however, under these conditions will have to work on the verge of technical possibilities.