BP Delays Unit Closure at Main Germany Refinery

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)

Summary

U.K. oil major BP plc (London, England) is to keep its largest German refinery running until a new buyer is found. 

BP Extends Life of German Refinery

U.K. oil major BP plc (London, England) has delayed the the planned permanent closure of a 70,000-barrel-per-day (BBL.d) Crude Distillation Unit and a 40,000-BBL/d Vacuum Distillation Unit at its largest German refinery, the 140,000-BBL/d Gelsenkirchen Scholven. It is the second time closure plans have been reversed at the refinery as the company looks for a buyer. 

It follows a decision in July to keep the units running in order to take advantage of favorable market conditions and profitability due to a tight market for diesel in Europe, caused by a number of outages, refinery closures and production curbs outside of Europe. For now, the units will continue operations due to good market conditions until the end of the year when a new operator is expected to be found. 

Gelsenkirchen Refinery

BP first announced the planned sale of the Gelsenkirchen refinery in February in a strategic drive to become a "simpler, more focused, higher value company." The refinery has a processing capacity of around 12 million metric tons of crude oil per year and produces a range of products for both fuel and chemical markets, including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, heating oil and more than 50 chemical products. The sale will also include related chemical operations, DHC Solvent Chemie in Mülheim an der Ruhr. It employs around 2,000 people and 160 apprentices and plays a key role in the North Rhine-Westphalia fuel and chemicals industry. BP's only other German refinery is the smaller Lingen Refinery, which has a processing capacity of 4 million BBL/d. 

BP's Big Sell-Off

The company announced late last year that the sale of assets would form a key part of the company's new drive to become a more profit-driven company, a strategy that also included a contentious decision to make significant cuts to renewable energy projects and targets. The company is aiming to raise US$20 billion from the divestment by 2027. In May, it announced the planned sale of its Castrol lubricants unit, which it hopes will raise up to US$10 billion. Castrol, bought by BP in 2000 for US$3 billion, is one of the world's leading standalone lubricants businesses and a global motorsport sponsor.

Tough Third Quarter

Despite earnings slipping in recent Q3 filings to US$2.2 billion, down from US$2.3 billion in Q2, asset sales are expected to add US$5 billion to the company coffers by the end of the year, according to BP Chief Executive Officer Murray Auchincloss. "We continue to make good progress to cut costs, strengthen our balance sheet and increase cash flow and returns. We are looking to accelerate delivery of our plans, including undertaking a thorough review of our portfolio to drive simplification and targeting further improvements in cost performance and efficiency. There is much more to do but we are moving at pace, and demonstrating that bp can and will do better for our investors." 

Industrial Info recently reported on how the third quarter turned out for the leading oil and gas majors, BP, Exxon Mobil Corporation (Spring, Texas), Chevron Corporation (Houston, Texas) and Shell plc (London, England). For additional information, see November 05, 2025, article - Big Oil Payouts Exceed Earnings for Three Integrated Supermajors.

Key Takeaways

• BP is delaying unit closures at its largest German refinery in Gelsenkirchen
• A new owner for the refinery is being sought and an announcement is expected by year's end
• Tight European diesel supplies since this summer have pushed up prices and allowed the units to stay operational 

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