EU Refinery Maintenance

The latest update on the European refinery maintenance schedule.

• BP’s Gelsenkirchen refinery was planning to restart a crude unit during the weekend 28-29 October after it was halted in mid-September, a person familiar with the matter said. The 120kbpd crude unit halted in mid-September and is now scheduled to be running by the end of this week.
• The Oilinvest Holborn refinery in Hamburg is likely still under maintenance since 11 September. Maintenance was still ongoing as of 9 October, the refinery posted on X.
• Shell’s Miro refinery’s 86kbpd FCC and 76kbpd FCC feed hydrotreater were shut on 11 October. Other monitored units remained unchanged. Partial planned work was expected to start mid-October according to WoodMac. Bloomberg estimated previously works started in early September and ended 31 October.
• Bayernoil’s Vohburg refinery has planned maintenance at which it took both crude units offline. Works began on 8 October and are scheduled to end on 29 November.
• A fire at Bayernoil’s Neustadt refinery in early October caused the hydrocracker to stop according to WoodMac. Bloomberg suggested the unit was scheduled to return on 2 November. WoodMac said the 86kbpd CDU and associated 17kbpd VDU were shut on 29 October. The hydrogen plant and hydrocracker were shut earlier in October after a fire.
• Shell’s Rheinland Godorf refinery shut its 116kbpd CDU and 37kbpd VDU on 19 October. Increased activity was observed on 24 October but rates remained below normal, WoodMac said. The FCC at BP’s Gelsenkirchen refinery stopped on 7 September. Works were scheduled to last seven weeks according to Bloomberg.
• In the UK, PetroIneos’ Grangemouth refinery is in the pre-commissioning phase of restarting a unit as of 2 November that was under planned maintenance according to a tweet on X from its official account. The alert did not state which unit they were referring to.
• Valero’s 220kbpd Pembroke refinery’s 92kbpd FCC, 35kbpd alkylation unit and two isomerization units were shut the evening of 28 October. Increased activity observed at the 97kbpd VDU that same evening, but remained slightly below normal. The unit was shut since 9 October. The 26kbpd visbreaker was shut on 4 September, WoodMac said.
• Essar Energy’s Stanlowe refinery will return on 15 November. The halt to the CDU and VDU is limiting output by 195kbpd according to Bloomberg.
• In Belgium, TotalEnergies is looking at postponing planned work on a gasoline producing unit next year at its Antwerp refinery according to Bloomberg sources. The unit is currently undergoing unscheduled maintenance. The refinery has two fluid catalytic crackers. The larger of the two FCCs - offline since August following a fault - is scheduled to have a new reactor installed in October 2024 but that is possibly now moved to 2025 the source said. Another source told Bloomberg that TotalEnergies Antwerp is planning two major rounds of work in 2025 and 2026 involving most operating units.
• In the Netherlands, increased activity was observed at the 83kpd VDU at BP’s Rotterdam refinery during the morning of 13 October but remained below normal levels. The unit was shut on 11 April. The 32kbpd catalytic reformer was again shut down on 31 October, after an earlier shutdown on 23-26 October, WoodMac said.
• In Portugal, Galp’s 220kbpd Sines refinery is scheduled to halt until 24 Nov.
• In Spain, BP’s Castellon de la Plana refinery is scheduled to fully halt its output of 110kbpd on 15 October until 8 December. The halt is carried out every six years.
• Repsol’s Bilbao refinery shut a cogeneration unit on 2 November, while the 13kbpd catalytic reformer remained offline since 16 September according to WoodMac.