Swedish specialities producer Nynas has returned to profits last year after sustaining significant financial losses in 2022, when it switched away from Russian crude in a self-sanctioning move against the Ukraine invasion.
Nynas, a key producer and supplier of bitumen and naphthenic base oils, reported an operating result of 566mn Swedish Krona (SEK) ($52.31mn) in 2023 after registering an operating loss of SEK 2.43bn in 2022.
The firm made a profit of SEK 591.7mn in 2023, from losses of SEK 3.31bn in the previous year, while its adjusted Ebitda rose to SEK 829mn in 2023 from SEK 596mn in 2022.
Nynas pointed out that its financial rebound came despite a major four-yearly turnaround during the fourth quarter of 2023 at its biggest refinery at Nynasham, Sweden. This was the largest maintenance shutdown at the facility. "Unplanned downtime" at Nynashamn also occurred in January 2023, lasting about a month. The two shutdowns adversely impacted the firm's earnings by around SEK 572mn, it said.
The company closed its 50,000 b/d Harburg, Germany refinery in 2022 with a view to converting it to an oil terminal.
It has exited non-core markets such as the US and Brazil over the past two years. In 2022, it announced that it would discontinue direct bitumen sales into the Polish market while also saying it would reduce its direct sales presence in the Asia-Pacific region and focus on delivering to its bitumen and naphthenic base oils customers in Europe.
Nynas said it was in "advanced talks" with an unnamed partner that intends to use the Harburg refinery site for a green energy project. The scheme is backed by the City of Hamburg and "builds on Germany's objectives for future use of hydrogen and is supported by Hamburg Port Authority's strategy to develop Hamburg as a hub for sustainable energy supply", the city said.
Nynas was unavailable to give further details on the Harburg plans.
