Turkey’s largest oil refiner Tüpraş has temporarily halted operations at its 11.9 million tons/year İzmir refinery due to reduced demand amid the coronavirus pandemic. The shutdown started on May 5, and according to Tüpraş’ filing to Borsa İstanbul AS, it will last until July 1, or whenever the economic activities improve and petroleum product demand increases.
In the previous filing to Borsa Istanbul dated April 20, Tüpraş slashed its 2020 outlook for refinery sales from 29 million tons to 25 tons. Its guidance for capacity utilization was also reduced from 95%-100% to 80%-85%. The company also cut its proposed refining investments from $200 million to $125 million. These investments will cover crude units revamp, FCC modernization, new sulfur units installation, conversion units optimization, and energy-saving projects.
