Posts Tagged ‘Oil Refinery’

SHELL Australia has again failed to guarantee the future of its refinery operations in Geelong, as the company looks to scale back in the face of increased Asian competition and reduced margins.

Cameron Best   |  December 6th, 2011

SHELL Australia has again failed to guarantee the future of its refinery operations in Geelong, as the company looks to scale back in the face of increased Asian competition and reduced margins.

While the company issued its standard “we never speculate on speculation” line, it admitted the Geelong refinery faced challenging times in a highly competitive environment.

“While the company does not speculate on the future of any of its assets, it is worth noting significant investment decisions made by Shell in the last 12 months,” Shell Australia spokesman Paul Zennaro said. read more

April 8 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc is limiting gasoline sales from the U.K.’s second-largest oil refinery at Stanlow in Cheshire because of a fault, a person familiar with the situation said.

Shell thought wrong. Since closing the tap early in January, the company has been publicly accused of market manipulation in an episode reminiscent of the avalanche of negative attention it, along with other oil companies, received in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and during periods of high gas prices.

A Shell spokeswoman said Friday that while her company was no longer shipping oil to the refinery, other oil suppliers were free to use the pipeline. In addition, the refinery draws crude from another pipeline not owned by Shell, said spokeswoman Alison Chassin. Flying J owes Shell money for crude already delivered to the plant, an amount she said was in the "tens of millions" of dollars.

Shell Oil Co. is putting the squeeze on a financially troubled Bakersfield refinery it sold in 2005 to Big West Oil, which could lead to the closing of the operation and potentially higher gasoline prices for California motorists, according to consumer activists and a union representing plant workers.

SYDNEY, Dec 31 (Reuters) - A temporary shut down of Royal Dutch Shell Plc's (RDSa.L) Australia Clyde refinery will extend into 2009 due to ongoing maintenance work, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.

Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc, one of four refiners in Australia, is sourcing fuels from its own and other companies’ plants both within the country and in Asia to replace output at its Sydney unit, which is closed for maintenance.

As part of an ongoing strategy of portfolio management, Shell Petroleum NV (Shell) has successfully completed the sale of its 50% shareholding in Refineria Dominicana de Petroleo, S.A.

The fire broke out at the refinery near Rotterdam at 1:20 p.m. local time today, said Wim van de Wiel, a spokesman for Europe’s biggest oil company, based in The Hague. Wendel Broere, also a company spokesman, said later the blaze was brought under control by 3:25 p.m. and the incident is now closed.

Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- A large fire erupted today in a pipeline at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Pernis refinery in the Netherlands, Europe’s largest plant.

LONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell closed its Dutch Pernis refinery, the Europe's largest, after a fire on Thursday, trade sources said.

LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell has restarted a reformer at its Pernis refinery this week after a brief shutdown, trade sources said on Tuesday.

European Union plans to tighten carbon trading rules after 2012 risk damaging the global competitiveness of Royal Dutch Shell's (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research,Stock Buzz) Pernis refinery, a Shell executive told a newspaper published on Saturday. Rob Routs, Executive Director of Downstream (oil products and chemicals), said the oil major was concerned about the consequences for Europe's biggest oil refinery if the EU pursued its plans without the United States and China on board.

LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell is expected to restart oil units at its Pernis refinery in the Netherlands on Tuesday if there are no further delays, trading sources said on Tuesday.

A recent pullback in plans to expand or upgrade U.S. oil refineries may herald a more cautious era for refining companies, now facing uncertainty on many fronts after enjoying high profits for several years.

While refineries in Europe and the US in particular suffer from a collapse in fuel demand, and big integrated oil companies such as BP and Royal Dutch Shell sell one facility after another, Asia and the Middle East are emerging as the new centres of the industry.

Project delays in the high-cost Canadian oil sands have been announced in the past month by Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Suncor Energy Inc. and Nexen Inc.

SYDNEY, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc's Australian unit said on Thursday its Clyde refinery in Sydney would temporarily shut down its refining process units for maintenance work at the end of November.

Shell expects to start making motor fuels at its Deer Park refinery this week. The Motiva plant in Port Arthur, which Shell co-owns with Saudi Aramco, could start making gasoline and other products by the end of the week, Shell said.

At least 13 refineries in Texas were shutting down as Ike approached. Gulf Coast refineries and ports are the source of about 50 percent of the fuel and crude used in the eastern half of the U.S. Plants operated by Exxon Mobil Corp., Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell Plcwere affected.

Motiva Enterprises, the refining joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Saudi Aramco, has begun restarting its 240,000 barrels per day refinery in Norco, Louisiana, which was shut last week ahead of Hurricane Gustav, Shell said on its website Friday.

Inspectors did find serious problems at the Shell Puget Sound Refinery near Anacortes.

State inspectors say the refinery was not following the equipment readiness program in its legally required oil spill preparedness plan. They also wrote that the refinery lacked maintenance records for response equipment, nor could operators verify the location and condition of some of that gear.

Shell has deferred its listing, citing poor market conditions and uncertainty over the future of its Philippine refinery.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, which owns half of South Africa's biggest refinery, sold 25 percent of its local refining unit to Thebe Investment Corp. to meet government requirements for ownership by black investors.