Prices in Germany’s domestic bitumen market are rising because supplies are restricted while seasonal demand is growing.
Bitumen supplies remain limited throughout Germany, especially in the northeast, as the two largest German refineries, Schwedt and Leuna, have temporarily stopped producing bitumen due to the pipeline Druzhba contamination issue. Bayernoil, another major producer of bitumen, has been on a nine-month break because of an explosion last year.
PCK Schwedt
The German refinery PCK Schwedt, which processes 208, 000 barrels of bitumen per day. It has stopped the production of bitumen and switch to the delivery of more cost-effective lighter crudes. From the middle of April, oil flows through the pipeline have been halted, while crude oil was contaminated by excess concentrations of an organic chloride. After using the oil reserves, the PCK Schwedt temporarily established alternative oil supplies through the port of Rostock.
PCK Raffinerie Schwedt is owned by Rosneft Deutschland, Shell Deutschland and PCK Beteiligungs-Gesellschaft. The refinery processes 12 million tons of crude oil per year, obtaining diesel fuel, gasoline, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, fuel oil and among others, bitumen.
Total Refinery Leuna
The second German Refinery Leuna, that also used crude oil from PCK Druzhba, had to cut bitumen production and switched to delivery of lighter crudes as well. Before this accident Leuna supplied approximately 210,000 barrels of bitumen per day. PCK Leuna is owned by Total and has the capacity to process 12 million tons of crude oil per year.
Pipeline Druzhba supplies about one third of crude oil to Germany. According to the latest reports, Druzhba could be launched from July 1st. Full pipeline cleaning will take about 6- 8 months.
Bayernoil refinery
The third German refinery Bayernoil, that produces 210 000 barrels of bitumen per day, was launched in the first week of June after nine-month interruption in the operation. It took nine months to recover from a powerful explosion and fire in September 2018.
Although the refinery is open, the supply the of bituminous product will remain limited for at least three months. The Bayernoil plans to reach full capacity by September.
The Refinery Bayernoil owned by Varo Energy, Rosneft Deutschland, Eni and BP. It produces over ten million tons of crude oil annual. The refinery gains liquefied gases, fuels, gasoline, jet, diesel, heating oil and bitumen.
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