ExxonMobil, Total S.A., Petroplus Plan Turnarounds at French Refineries

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) (Irving, Texas), Total S.A. (NYSE:TOT) (Paris, France) and Petroplus Holdings AG (VTX:PPHN) (Zug, Switzerland) are planning major maintenance turnarounds at some of their French refineries in 2011.

France has 13 refineries, with most of them in the Haute Normandie region in northwest France or in the southern Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions.

The 117,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Fos-sur-Mer Refinery, owned by ExxonMobil and operated by Esso S.A. France (Paris), will undergo a major maintenance turnaround, scheduled for the third week of January. The 53-day maintenance turnaround will concern the two main production areas of the refinery: the Conversion Area and the Distillation Area, with 12 units in all. Under normal conditions, turnarounds are performed every six years; however, on January 5, 2009, a minor 25-day maintenance turnaround caused the entire refinery to shut down.

The Fos-sur-Mer Refinery, located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, is the smaller of the two refineries that ExxonMobil owns in France, behind the 207,000-BBL/d Gravenchon Tefinery in Haute Normandie, which is scheduled to shut down some units in early 2012.

Separately, Total's 100,000-BBL/d Grandpuits Refinery, the smallest of the six refineries the group owns and operates in French territory, is planning a major turnaround for February 2011 that will affect the 19 processing units. Although the overhaul is expected to last approximately 45 nonproduction days, the Distillation Area is planned to be offline for only 25 days, since a major turnaround was performed in this area in March 2008.

Separately, the 48,000-BBL/d Hydrocracker at the 364,000-BBL/d Gonfreville Refinery in Haute Normandie, which is the largest of Total's French refineries, will be shut down for 15 days in early March for a catalyst change-out.

Petroplus is scheduling a maintenance and inspection turnaround at its 154,000-BBL/d Petit Couronne Refinery in March 2011. The turnaround will be performed at five units in the Conversion Area: the 26,200-BBL/d FCCU, a merox unit, a gas hydrodesulfurization (natural gas liquids) unit, a girbotol (amine treatment) unit and a soft gas unit, keeping those units offline for a period of about 45 days. The other two production areas of the refinery are expected stay online until the next planned turnaround, which is scheduled for early 2012.

Located in Haute Normandie, the Petit Couronne Refinery is the largest of the two refineries Petroplus owns and operates in France. In addition, Petroplus had initially scheduled a 20-day minor planned maintenance turnaround at the 85,000-crude distillation unit, concerning the 24,786-BBL/d gas oil hydrotreater unit, to take place during April 2011. However, on October 21, 2010, the company has announced its intension to change the site and closure date for the plant, which remain uncertain. For more information, see November 16, 2010, article - Petroplus Plans to Close French Refinery.

In early September 2011, a minor 20-day maintenance turnaround will involve the 3,400-BBL/d Alkylation Unit of the 160,000-BBL/d Total Provence Refinery, the third-largest refinery that Total owns and operates in the country. The shutdown will be performed only at the alkylation unit, having no impact on asociated units.

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