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France's Feyzin refinery could be offline for a month

  • Spanish Market: Crude oil, Oil products, Petrochemicals
  • 08/10/21

Workers at TotalEnergies' 105,000 b/d Feyzin refinery in France say crude runs could be halted for at least a month following a fire earlier this week.

Employees say the refinery's crude distillation unit (CDU) was shut down immediately after the fire broke out in a pump serving the unit on 4 October. The fire lasted around three hours. Workers have since been gradually shutting down other segments of the refinery.

A reformer and desulphuriser were closed mid-week, and a second desulphuriser is likely to halt operations on 13 October. A vaccum distillation unit (VDU) is likely to be shut this weekend. The refinery's fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) remains operational for the time being and is being fed with naphtha. Workers say this can continue for now, but if work on restarting the CDU is not completed quickly, the FCC will also need to be shut down, likely within around 3-4 weeks.

Other units including a mercaptan extractor will shut this weekend. Petrochemical units remain online, but some have had their capacity reduced. TotalEnergies has said Feyzin's supply of oil products to local customers will not be impacted. The refinery can draw on its stocks. It is also connected to the Mediterranean port of Fos-Lavera by pipeline, which could be used for imports if necessary.

TotalEnergies said it will not comment on operations, and France's CGT union has not responded to queries.

A crude cargo for Feyzin, slated for delivery at Fos-Lavera, arrived earlier today and has moved directly alongside berth 3 at the port, which is used for crude discharge. The NS Clipper has around 610,000 bl of Libyan grade Mellitah on board, according to Argus tracking. Another tanker, the Breiviken, carrying 660,000 bl of US crude originally slated for Feyzin has diverted to Le Havre, where TotalEnergies has its 240,000 b/d Gonfreville refinery. It also arrived earlier today and is inside the harbour waiting to unload.


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