Poland has committed to supplying crude if Schwedt nationalised, Germany says

BERLIN (Reuters) -Poland has given assurances that it will continue to supply Germany's Schwedt refinery with crude oil if Berlin nationalises the majority Russian-owned plant, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said in Warsaw on Tuesday.

Reuters reported this month that Berlin is preparing to potentially nationalise Russian energy group Rosneft's German activities, including its 54.17% stake in the Schwedt refinery, which Berlin put under a trusteeship in September 2022 in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Habeck said on Tuesday the process to dissolve the trusteeship had begun within the government and was at the hearing stage.

Germany has extended the trusteeship twice and needs to make a fresh decision in March, when the current trusteeship expires.

"Poland has helped a lot in the past to secure the oil supply in Germany, in eastern Germany," said Habeck.

"Should this scenario develop differently now ... Poland is prepared to continue to support us."

A Polish source familiar with talks on supplies to Schwedt told Reuters on Monday that Warsaw had assured Berlin two weeks ago it could provide more oil if Kazakh supplies were halted in possible retaliation for German moves against Rosneft.

Poland told Germany it could replace the whole Kazakh volume of about 1-1.2 million metric tons per year, the source said.

That would be on top of the 1.2 million tons per year Schwedt already gets via Poland's Gdansk port, the source added.

Together with oil the refinery can get via a pipeline from Germany's Rostock, that could meet over 80% of Schwedt's needs.

Germany and Poland agreed a supply deal for the refinery in 2022, but Warsaw has repeatedly said removing Rosneft from Schwedt was crucial for pumping more oil for the plant.

(Reporting by Marek Strzelecki und Christian KraemerWriting by Miranda Murray and Rachel MoreEditing by Matthias Williams and Mark Potter)