French energy giant Total on Tuesday said it would idle its 222,000 bpd Donges plant in France for the next few months until refining economics recover. Total said the refinery ran at a loss due to weak demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic. An official with worker union CGT confirmed that Donges would be offline starting on November 30. Despite the shutdown, Total will proceed with a modernisation project at Donges.
France reimposed lockdown at the end of October to curb the rapid spread of the COVID-19 infections in the country. Fuel consumption fell substantially during the first lockdown, with diesel and gasoline demand plunging 61.5% and 70% year-on-year in April, respectively. Responding to the sluggish market, Total extended maintenance shutdowns at its 105,000 bpd Feyzin and the 93,000 bpd Grandpuits refineries.
Total restarted Feyzin and Grandpuits in September and June, respectively. However, Grandpuits faced a financial viability issue due to pipeline problems, and Total decided to convert the plant into bio-refinery. Total’s largest refinery in France, the 240,000 bpd Gonfreville refinery, will keep its crude distillation unit offline until mid-2021 following a fire in December 2019, industry sources said.
