France Port Jerome refinery restart likely in early May

Workers at ExxonMobil's 236,000 b/d Port Jerome refinery in northern France said today the plant is likely to resume operations in May, following a fire there earlier in the year.

"We think it could restart in early May if everything goes to plan," said a worker today.

The fire in a crude distillation unit (CDU) at the start of March halted operations, and injured workers and members of the fire service.

The 1.15mn b/d French downstream complex had a period of around six months in the second half of 2023 when it ran without any incident, the first time in around four years. This ended at the end of last year when TotalEnergies' 219,000 b/d Donges refinery, on the Atlantic coast, halted after inspections by local authorities.

By Adam Porter