Rome Refinery Closes After 50 Years of Activity

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources Latin America (Cordoba, Argentina)--The 86,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Rome Refinery, owned and operated by Total ERG, a joint venture between Total S.A. (NYSE:TOT) (Paris, France) (51%) and ERG SpA (Milan, Italy) (49%), has permanently shut down all processing units due to poor market conditions.

The Rome Refinery had approximately 250 employees and was able to produce about 86,000 BBL/d of distillates. While executives were deciding on the future of the equipment, machinery and employees, the refinery was placed in safety mode and the entire refinery area was cleaned.

The region where the refinery is located has a high demand for fuel, and even with the refinery processing units--such as the crude topping (86,000 BBL/d), HDS (Diesel) (30,000 BBL/d), platformer (12,000 BBL/d) and visbreaker (30,000 BBL/d)--producing the demanded fuels-- such as naphtha, diesel, gasoline--its was unable to supply the internal demand with its own production. The refinery was able to import 30% of the additional needed fuel consumption, being already used by then as a product deposit.

As announced on May 2012 by Total ERG, and as Industrial Info previously reported, the plant was completely shut down in mid-September 2012 after being operational for 50 years. It is being converted into a storage terminal to handle oil products, due to its strategic location at the Lazio Region near Rome; even though a decision is still being made on the steps to dismantle the units. For more information, see May 30, 2012, article - Rome Refinery to Cease Activities by End of Year.

Even though there has been an improvement in Europe's refining margins, Italy continues to face a severe economic crisis that affects the petroleum industry. The Rome Refinery closure is not an isolated case in the Mediterranean country, as Eni SpA (NYSE:E) (Rome, Italy) had shut down its 80,000-BBL/d Venezia Refinery for six months (October 2011 until May 2012), and the Crude 1 (87,500 BBL/d) at its Gela refinery (130,500 BBL/d) for one year. API Holding SpA (Rome, Italy) is continuing with its plan to close its Ancona refinery (85,000 BBL/d). For more information, see May 21 and August 15 articles - Italy's Venezia Refinery Resumes Operations After Six Months of Inactivity and Italy's Refining Woes Continue with Planned API de Ancona Refinery Closure in 2013.

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