German haulage industry could be hit as AdBlue maker runs down stock

By Ludwig Burger and Patricia Weiss

FRANKFURT, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Supplies of exhaust cleaning fluid in Germany needed to keep diesel vehicles on the road, were thrown into doubt on Wednesday as one of the country's largest makers of AdBlue said its stock was almost gone after it halted production due to high gas prices.

Germany's biggest ammonia and urea maker SKW Piesteritz, stopped production about two to three weeks ago to avoid further losses and is about to sell off its remaining AdBlue inventories, a spokesperson told Reuters.

We are running dry. We are emptying our inventories because we are no longer producing, he said.

AdBlue is needed in modern diesel engines of trucks and buses to comply with nitrogen oxides exhaust rules. Germany is particularly reliant on AdBlue because of the large proportion of diesel-powered passenger cars on its roads.

The energy crisis facing Europe has grown more acute after Russia's Gazprom GAZP.MM indefinitely suspended gas supplied through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany last week.