US firm owned by Trump donor buys German oil storage giant

by AFP Staff Writers
Frankfurt, Germany (AFP) Jan 23, 2026

A US takeover of a major German operator of fuel storage sites has been approved, Berlin said Friday, despite warnings about the new owner's close links to US President Donald Trump.

The news comes as Germany-US ties deteriorate under Trump, who has hit Europe with tariffs, repeatedly questioned whether the continent is on the right track, and threatened to seize Greenland from NATO ally Denmark.

The economy ministry confirmed to AFP that it had approved the sale of TanQuid, which operates 15 sites in Germany and one in Poland, to US fuel distributor Sunoco after conducting a security review.

"The TanQuid Group is being taken over by a leading, experienced, internationally active company in the field of energy infrastructure and fuel distribution," a ministry spokeswoman said.

But Sunoco's parent company is Energy Transfer (ET), a Texas-based pipeline operator whose billionaire CEO Kelcy Warren is a major Trump donor.

When the sale of the German group by its former Australian owners Macquarie was first announced last year, lawmakers from the Greens party raised concerns.

In parliamentary questions in July, the party asked about the "potential impact on European energy supply, especially in light of the publicly known political proximity of the company's management to the current US president".

They also queried what the government thought of the potential for German companies' access to the storage facilities to be a restricted by a US corporation in the event of "geopolitical tensions".

Greenpeace said the sale of TanQuid was a "serious mistake".

"It is placing critical energy infrastructure in the hands of a US fossil fuel corporation and disregarding all legitimate security and climate policy concerns," said Nina Noelle, a Greenpeace expert on international crisis response.

"Economic interests are clearly being prioritised over long-term security and democratic values."

Greenpeace was last year ordered to pay over $660 million in damages to ET in a case condemned as an attack on climate action.

ET had accused the environmental advocacy group of orchestrating violence and defamation during the construction of a pipeline project. Greenpeace vowed to appeal the ruling.

TanQuid stores a huge number of products including petrol, diesel and kerosene as well as various chemicals and biofuels and also operates pipelines.

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