BP to close Australia Kwinana refinery in March: Update

Adds details of crude and product imports in paragraphs 4-6

BP said it is on track to decommission the 146,000 b/d Kwinana refinery in Western Australia (WA) by the end of this month, with it having halted crude imports for its only refinery in the country. BP announced in October last year Kwinana would cease refining within six months.

BP will convert the plant to an oil products import terminal to supply customers in WA.

"Oil refining activities have now ceased and fuel imports have started," BP said. "All processing at the plant is in the shutdown phase, which will be completed by the end of March 2021." There will be no impact to the supply of fuel products, the company said.

The Kwinana refinery relied almost totally on imported crude. Seaborne crude deliveries to Kwinana averaged 132,000 b/d between the start of 2018 and late October last year, when BP announced the plan to close the refinery, according to Vortexa data. The majority of this comprised 47,000 b/d of light sour Murban crude from Abu Dhabi, 42,000 b/d of light sweet Malaysian grades — mainly Kimanis and Bunga Orkid — and 21,000 b/d of US light sweet WTI.

Crude imports fell to 104,000 b/d in November-January. A 240,000 bl cargo of Abu Dhabi Murban crude discharged on 1 February and no crude has been delivered since then.

Combined imports of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to Kwinana surged to a record 46,000 b/d in February, up from less than 2,000 b/d a year earlier and an average of 17,000 b/d over the previous three months, the Vortexa data show.

Kwinana's closure will leave three refineries operating in Australia. But ExxonMobil will close its 90,000 b/d Altona refinery in Melbourne, Victoria in the coming months, with Australian downstream firm Ampol planning to make a decision on the long-term future of its 109,000 Lytton refinery in Queensland by mid-2021.

Australia-listed downstream firm Viva Energy is the only company that has accepted payments from the federal government's scheme to keep domestic refineries operating for its 128,000 b/d Geelong refinery in Victoria.

By Kevin Morrison and Kevin Foster