Late April European downstream update

Germany

OMV AG, Central Europe’s biggest oil company, is preparing to adapt its refinery in Burghausen to process non-Libyan crude oil, according to a spokeswoman from the company. The reconfiguration of the refinery will take place gradually and the company is unable to give an exact timeframe for the process. OMV has been buying crude from Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan and the Black Sea region to compensate for Libyan oil, which last year made up 20% of crude processed at the complex.

Spain

Repsol YPF SA, Spain’s biggest oil company, is planning to halt a platformer at its 220 000 bpd Petronor refinery in Bilbao for maintenance. The process is expected to produce intermittent flaring, but there are hopes that the unit will be restarted within a month.

Ukraine

TNK-BP, the joint oil venture of BP Plc and a group of Russian businessmen will operate its Linik refinery in Ukraine in April and May.

The company considers whether to halt the refinery every month, due to reduced profit margins. TNK-BP refining operations in Ukraine are suffering because of cheap imports from Belarus and Kazakhstan. The company has said that it expects to lose US$ 150 million this year on the Linik facility if conditions remain unchanged and threatened to close the plant at the end of March.

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