BRC Refinery in Belgium to Decrease Production by 5%-10% in 2009

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Belgium Refining Company (BRC) refinery, owned by Petroplus Holdings (VTX:PPHN) (Zug, Switzerland), will decrease production from 110,000 barrels per day (BBL/d) to 95,000 BBL/d in 2009.

Petroplus authorities at the BRC refinery, located in Antwerp, Belgium, said on November 6 that an unplanned shutdown had shut down all of the facility's processing unit after a fire broke out in the visbreaker unit. The refinery resumed operation in September after a two-month overhaul. The refinery has been operating at optimal rates, but because of the incident, the average production for 2009, including raw materials and intermediates, will vary from 95,000 BBL/d to 105,000 BBL/d, reflecting a 5%-10% decrease in annual production.

The BRC Refinery is currently operating at optimal rates. Due to the incident the average of production for the year 2009, including raw materials and intermediates, will vary from 95,000 to 105,000 barrels per day (BBL/day), which will be reflected in a 5% to 10% decrease in the annual production.

Petroplus operates two refineries in Belgium: the BRC refinery and the 115,000-BBL/d APF Antwerp processing facility. The company focuses on refining and currently owns and operates seven refineries across Europe: the Coryton refinery on the Thames Estuary in the United Kingdom; the Ingolstadt refinery in Germany; the BRC refinery in Belgium; the Petit Couronne refinery in France; the Cressier refinery in Switzerland; the Reichstett refinery in France; and the Teesside refinery in the United Kingdom. The refineries have a combined processing capacity of approximately 864,000 BBL/d.

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