Germany's MiRO Refinery Prepares for Planned Turnaround

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The 299,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) MiRO refinery in Karlsruhe, Germany, is preparing for a major scheduled shutdown in March 2010. The complex is owned and operated by Mineralöl Raffinerie Oberrhein GmbH (Karlsruhe), a joint venture of ConocoPhillips Continental Holding GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) (18.75%), Shell Deutschland Oil GmbH (Hamburg) (32.25%), Esso Deutschland GmbH (Würzburg, Germany) (25%), and Rühr Oel GmbH (Bochum, Germany) (24%), which is a 50:50 joint venture of BP plc (NYSE:BP) (London, England) and PDVSA (Caracas, Venezuela).

The turnaround will keep units offline for a total of 30 non-production days and will affect the 65,600-BBL/d Topping 1 unit, the 134,000-BBL/d Topping 2 unit, the Vacuum 1 unit, the Vacuum 2 unit, the Vacuum 3 unit and other associated units. Generally, shutdowns are planned in sequence, dividing the facility into two production trains, which prevents the simultaneous shutdown of the entire production site.

The MiRO refinery produces 20% of the gasoline consumed in Germany. The facility's product range includes middle distillates like diesel fuel, light heating oil, and residual fuel oil. The complex is a fully integrated plant with high conversion capacity of lower-cost feedstock into higher-value products.

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