More plant closures are looming over Europe’s refining industry as the coronavirus pandemic causes a prolonged downturn in the fuel market. Some European countries have reimposed lockdowns due to the resurging number of new COVID-19 infections. This casts a thicker cloud over the fuel demand outlook in the continent. European refiners also reported that weak demand had weighed on their margins. Some of them have looked for cutting crude processing capacity and focus more on low-carbon energy.
UK’s Petroineos has kept the CDU1 and the FCC at its Grangemouth refinery during the pandemic. Now the company plans to mothball the two units and will launch a consultation with workers regarding the proposal. Petroineos intends to scale back refining operations and reduce workers at the Grangemouth site.
Portugal’s Galp has halted production at its two refineries in Porto since October 10 due to the impact of the pandemic. The company expects that the shutdown at the smaller of the two units will last for most of the fourth quarter.
Spain’s La Rabida is conducting maintenance at its Vacuum Unit No.2 and Fuel Unit No.1. However, it plans to keep both units offline once the turnaround is completed due to weak demand. Fellow Spanish refiner Repsol put its FCC at Coruna refinery offline in April and has so far reported no change in the unit’s operational status.
A local media reported that Croatia’s Rijeka refinery would temporarily cease operations and conduct maintenance between November and January. The report came amid tepid demand caused by a sluggish tourist season and the country’s spring lockdown.
In October, Finland’s Neste said that it was mulling to stop crude processing at its Naantali refinery. The company also considered reconfiguring the nearby Porvoo refinery operations to co-process renewable and circular raw materials.
In France, Total announced a more than €500 million ($583 million) investment to convert its Grandpuits refinery into a facility focusing on biofuels and bioplastics production. Previously, the company also sold its Lindsey refinery in the UK to Prax Group.
Gunvor Group stopped refining operations at its 110,000 bpd plant in Antwerp, Belgium at the end of May. In October, the company said it would mothball the refinery.
Shell suspended the sale of its Fredericia refinery in Denmark in 2018 but recently revived the divestment plan. Shell intends to sell eight of its existing fourteen refineries. However, the company said it would shut them if it failed to find a buyer.
