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Brunsbuettel bitumen refinery still shut since Oct fire

  • Mercados: Oil products
  • 13/11/25

TotalEnergies' 18,000 b/d bitumen-focused refinery in Brunsbuettel, north Germany, remains shut five weeks after being hit by a fire, tightening northwest European cargo supply and drawing some truck volumes from eastern Germany.

The facility processes heavy, bitumen-rich crude and supplies truck and cargo markets in northwest Europe and the Nordics.

Market participants said the continued halt, acknowledged today by officials familiar with the refinery's operations, has helped stabilise northwest European bitumen markets that are in the latter stages of the road construction and bitumen-consuming season, causing demand declines, especially across Scandinavia and the Baltic states. There are no immediate prospects of the refinery being restarted, market participants said.

Regional spot cargo surpluses, especially out of Rotterdam, had been steadily bearing down on bitumen cargo premiums to fob Rotterdam high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) barges for months, pushing assessed fob Rotterdam premiums down to $5-10/t last week, compared with $35-40/t in mid-August, as buyers have been able to meet their requirements from contractual supplies. The spot price drop reflects a lacklustre autumn seasonal bounce in paving activity and bitumen requirements before the winter low activity period.

But market participants said the prolonged Brunsbuettel halt has now helped stem that decline, adding to the impact of other maintenance-related supply restrictions in Germany, most notably at Shell's 187,000 b/d Godorf refinery in western Germany that has been undergoing a major six-week turnaround since early October. Bitumen market participants have also pointed in recent weeks to supply limitations from the 230,000 b/d PCK refinery at Schwedt in northeast Germany.

Most Rotterdam bitumen spot cargo market indications this week have been at fob premiums of around $10/t fob to Rotterdam HSFO values, including for December cargoes.

The Brunsbuettel halt has had a knock-on effect on the German inland bitumen truck market, with market players reporting truck flows from TotalEnergies' 236,000 b/d Leuna refinery in northeast Germany to Brunsbuettel to help make up for supply shortages caused by the latter's halt. One German player witnessed as many as 30 bitumen truck loads per day being moved from Leuna to Brunsbuettel in late October/early November.

Some major constructors, including in the UK, view bitumen produced at Brunsbuettel as a high quality and reliable product, making its absence more keenly felt.


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