Overhaul Planned at France's Dunkirk Refinery

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--France's 6,400-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Dunkirk Refinery, located in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, is scheduled for a maintenance turnaround in the first quarter of 2010. The refinery is run by La Société de la Raffinerie de Dunkerque (SRD), owned 60% by Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) (Irving, Texas) and 40% by Total SA (NYSE:TOT) (Paris, France).

The future turnaround will mainly involve cleaning and inspection and will take place in March and April. The maintenance will involve the two production areas of the refinery: the three units of the Bitumen Area and six units of the Lubes Area. The turnaround is scheduled to start March 10 and resume activities on April 15.

Under normal conditions, maintenance turnarounds are performed every six years. The last refinery overhaul took place in 2004, and units were kept offline for a period of 42 non-production days.

The refinery was built originally by BP plc (NYSE:BP) (London, England) in 1932 and was restarted in 1950 after World War II. In June 2009, BP sold its part (10%) to Exxon Mobil. SRD is expected to be entirely acquired by Colas SA (Paris), a road construction company, by the end of 2010.

The plant specialises mostly in the production of lubes, bitumen and paraffins. The refinery receives incoming crude and distillates from other refineries in Europe.

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