Germany's PCK refinery says no impact from pipeline leak

FRANKFURT, ‌Dec 11 (Reuters) - Germany's PCK said on Thursday it was ‍operating normally ‌and drawing on internal stocks, a day after a crude ⁠oil spill from a ‌pipeline which feeds the refinery from the port of Rostock.

The incident happened at a valve station near Gramzow, with no injuries and no ⁠danger for nearby residents, PCK said.

"There are currently no effects on refinery ​operations. PCK has sufficient stocks to bridge short-term ‌supply interruptions," a PCK ⁠spokesperson said in a statement.

"According to current information, there is no damage to the pipeline, so a restart can be ​planned and prepared in parallel."

PCK said early estimates put the oil spill at 200 cubic metres (7,000 cubic feet) over an area of 2 hectares (5 acres) and environmental damage to ​soil ‍and water was being ​assessed.

Based on current insights, outside interference could be ruled out as a cause of the incident, it said, adding that the spill looked most likely to have been triggered by planned preparatory work for a scheduled safety test.

PCK is one ⁠of Germany's biggest refineries, with an annual processing capacity of 11.5 million metric tons. In ​Communist East Germany it was called Petrolchemisches Kombinat Schwedt.

Along with stakes in other German subsidiaries of sanctioned Russian oil giant Rosneft, PCK Schwedt has been held ‌in trust by the German government since September 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

(Reporting by Vera Eckert, editing by Alexander Smith)