REFINERY NEWS ROUNDUP: Run cuts, maintenance and closures due to coronavirus

Refineries in Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific continue to feel the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Infographic: Global refining in logjam as lockdowns slash demand for fuels

Many are reducing runs, choosing not to restart after maintenance, bringing their maintenance forward or simply closing to offset the impact of falling demand for oil products.

In Russia, where refineries are not planning run cuts, many are staring planned spring turnarounds. Refineries in China are slowly starting to increase processing.

"With demand collapsing, we anticipate the overall downtime will increase to roughly 15.7 million b/d for this week," S&P Global Platts Analytics wrote in its latest report. The number includes "normal maintenance, idling of units and discretionary run cuts."

Europe

--ExxonMobil's French sites Gravenchon and Fos, some inland German refineries including Miro, refineries in Italy, Spain and Portugal have cut runs.

--France's Grandpuits and Feyzin have not restarted after maintenance.

--Italy's API refinery in Falconara went fully offline.

--In the Netherlands, Gunvor postponed the start of planned works at its Rotterdam site, and subsequently the restart of one of the two CDUs. Finland's Neste has also deferred planned maintenance. Norway's Mongstad, after planning a maintenance in May, has decided to postpone it.

--The Netherlands' Pernis brings its maintenance forward.

--However, Germany's Ingolstadt restarted after maintenance, while the country's Heide refinery said it was "currently running without restrictions." Production was continuing "as usual" at two refineries in Sweden -- Gothenburg and Lysekil and at Swiss Cressier.

--ExxonMobil's refineries in the UK and the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub have put business continuity plans in place to deal with potential disruption.

-- Israel's Bazan, which operates the Haifa refinery, said that due to lower demand for gasoline, it has reduced the volumes of gasoline it imports. In addition, Bazan said it had managed to "divert some of the diesel quantities from the domestic market to the export markets in which it operates and also made adjustments in production volumes to meet demand levels."

--Planned maintenance has been completed at Germany's Bayernoil, UK's Fawley, France's Lavera, Croatia's Rijeka.

--Hungary's MOL said its three refineries, in Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia are running but at reduced rates.

Russia and FSU

--Maintenance at some Russian refineries, including Novokuybishev, Norsi and Yanos, starting this month will result in reduced throughput.

--The remaining refineries are applying a high level of precautionary measures but are not considering any run cuts, despite Russia declaring April as non-working. However, industries with constant cycle are not affected.

--Russia's Gazprom Neft said its Omsk and Moscow refineries continue to guarantee "planned output of oil products." The high level of automation enables staff to operate processes remotely from control rooms and observe safety measures introduced to protect from the coronavirus outbreak. The Omsk refinery continues to work at normal rates, the refinery also said, adding that it has carried out disinfection and is monitoring staff temperatures while working according to the scheme adopted for public holidays.

--Refineries in Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan continue to operate normally.

Middle East

--Works at Bahrain's Sitra are now pushed back to May, Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia delayed maintenance to June.

--Scheduled turnarounds at Saudi Arabia's Petro Rabigh and on the west and east parts of ADNOC Ruwais are progressing according to plans.

--Kuwait National Petroleum Co will take an atmospheric residue desulfurization unit offline at its Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery from early April.

Africa

--Chad's Ndjamena refinery in Djarmaya temporarily suspended processing activities because of overproduction.

--The Engen refinery at Durban, South Africa, decided to shut down temporarily from March 27 "due to forecast lower demand for petroleum products during the national lockdown."

--Sasol's Natref refinery in South Africa will suspend operations from Thursday April 9 until further notice as the lockdown in South Africa which started on March 27 "has caused an unprecedented decline in fuel demand".

-- South Africa's largest refinery, Sapref, said that it will adjust its production rates according to market demand.

Asia-Pacific

--India's Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd has shut two of the three crude distillation units at its Manali refinery as retail demand for oil products has dropped sharply due to the lockdown to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. .

--India's Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd has reduced crude throughput by 30% at its Kochi refinery and at its Mumbai refinery.

--India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd invoked force majeure on its Iraqi crude supplies. HPCL Mumbai refinery has cut its throughput by a tenth, while the Vizag refinery is operating at its normal run rate

--India's IOC trimmed throughput at its nine refineries by 25%-30% to adjust to the pandemic-induced decline in retail sales. IOC also invoked force majeure to four of its Persian Gulf suppliers of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait.

--Bharat Oman Refineries Limited's Bina refinery in central India is considering to cut crude throughput.

--India's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. cut output of transportation fuels by around 50%, while output of LPG has been slashed to about 20-25%.

--Pakistan Refinery Ltd has cut its utilization rate to 50%. National Refinery Ltd decided to temporarily shut production from March 25. Byco Petroleum Pakistan Ltd has put its refinery in Baluchistan province on "cold circulation". Attock Refinery Ltd warned in an exchange filing that its refinery could be completely shut down.

--South Korea's SK Energy has reduced its crude run rate at Ulsan to 85% in March, from 95% a year ago, so as to cope with the "weakening demand for refined oil products" in the wake of the coronavirus. The refiner may keep the run rate low in April as well.

--South Korea's Hyundai Oilbank has lowered its crude run rate.

--Caltex Australia's 109,000 b/d Lytton Refinery has shifted forward its scheduled turnaround, with works at the facility to commence in May,

--New Zealand's Refining NZ reduced operations at its refinery at Marsden Point for three months initially.

--Thai Oil has cut operating rates at Sriracha refinery by about 20%.

--PetroVietnam's Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical has postponed the maintenance of its refinery at Dung Quat. It might be deferred to August or to 2021. It also may halt production if supply continues to exceed demand.

China Japan

--Some of the biggest refineries in China start raising rates. China's 20 million mt/year independent Hengli Petrochemical, the 20 million mt/year Zhejiang Petroleum and Chemical in eastern Zhejiang province lifted their runs in March.

--Independent refineries in eastern Shandong province also lifted their average run rates.

--Maoming Petrochemical lifted its run rate to 103% in March from 86% in February, becoming one the Sinopec refineries fully to return to normal. But Sinopec, the world's biggest refiner by capacity, expects its 2020 throughput to fall from last year.

--PetroChina's refineries have cut their average throughput plan from 78% in January to 66% in February to 64% of capacity in March.

--PetroChina's export refinery Guangxi Petrochemical remains shut despite finishing a 50-day scheduled maintenance period in end-March.

--In Japan, refiners are considering cutting operating rates further in April as the government declared a state of emergency.