British oil major Shell has ended negotiations to sell its 37.5% stake in Germany’s PCK Schwedt refinery to Polish energy company Unimot, Reuters reported, citing Bloomberg News.

The discussions, which began in 2023, ended several months ago, according to Bloomberg. Shell and Unimot were reportedly in advanced negotiations as recently as February.

The Schwedt refinery is majority-owned by Russia’s Rosneft, which holds a 54.17% stake. The refinery has become a key issue for Germany’s energy sector since Berlin moved to reduce its dependence on Russian energy following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

In 2022, the German government placed Rosneft’s stake in the refinery under trusteeship, giving Berlin control over the asset while leaving legal ownership with the Russian company.

The refinery has an annual processing capacity of around 11.5 million tons (mmt) of crude oil and plays an important role in supplying fuel to northeastern Germany, including Berlin.