Repsol Works to Restart Units at Spain's Cartagena Refinery

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Repsol YPF SA (NYSE:REP) (Madrid, Spain) began the restart process of its 100,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) refinery in Cartagena, Spain, on July 2, 2009.

The Cartagena Refinery, which was shut down on April 20, 2009, because of low economic margins, began the oil-in process on Thursday and expects to begin introducing feed into several major processing units in a sequential manner. Normal operations at the plant are anticipated by late this week. After approximately 74 days of nonproduction, authorities at Repsol have decided to put the refinery back into operation. However, the intention of keeping the plant running will depend on the evolution of the economy, rising fuel prices and demand for products made by the market. If demand and prices do not continue to recover, the refinery may shut down again in the near future.

Separately, the dates for maintenance works planned for 2010 at the refinery still remain. The general turnaround scheduled for the Fuel 1 and Fuel 2 areas will occur in February 2010, and maintenance planned for the Lube 2 Area will take place in October of next year.

Repsol owns five refineries in Spain: the Cartagena Refinery, the 120,000-BBL/d La Coruna Refinery, the 166,000-BBL/d Puertollano Refinery, the 174,000-BBL/d Tarragona Refinery and the 235,000-BBL/d Bilbao Refinery, which is run by Petronor a Repsol's subsidiary company.

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