October 28, 2016 [OPIS] - European oil product output capacity will rise by 453,000 b/d in November as refineries come back from maintenance, says Energy Aspects.
Turnarounds at European refineries have resulted in 995,000 b/d of refinery capacity being offline in October, down from 1.1 million b/d in September, said the London-based energy consultancy.
The maintenance season will continue to wind down in November, when 542,000 b/d will be offline, before 109,000 b/d in processing capacity is down in December, according to Energy Aspects.
Maintenance work is continuing at Europe’s largest refinery, the 404,000-b/d Pernis refinery, says operator Shell, which has declined to say which units have been taken down, but it is likely that units have been taken down sequentially.
The bulk of the maintenance work at Pernis is likely to be completed by mid-November, say sources.
Shell remains a bidder in both the northwest European jet and diesel barge and cargo markets during disclosed electronic trading.
Shell Trading Rotterdam switched from offering jet fuel into Rotterdam on Sept. 28 to buying jet fuel into Rotterdam during disclosed trading Oct. 5.
The slight fall between September and October in Energy Aspects’ estimate of offline processing capacity is probably due to the 266,000-b/d Gelsenkirchen refinery operated by BP coming back online in the first half of this month.
Other refineries experiencing maintenance work include Neste’s 206,000-b/d Porvoo refinery, the PKN-operated 160,000-b/d Duna and 330,000-b/d Plock refineries, Shell’s 170,000-b/d Godorf plant, Gunvor’s 107,500-b/d Antwerp refinery and MOL’s 110,000-b/d Bratislava refinery.
