Total Planning Maintenance Turnaround at Flandres Refinery

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Total's (NYSE:TOT) (Paris, France) 137,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Flandres refinery, located in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, is scheduled to undergo an overhaul between the first and the second quarters of 2010.

The future turnaround, which will entail cleaning, modernisation and inspection, will be in March 2010 and will involve the two main areas of the refinery: the SP1 Area (Production Section 1) with its 14 units, and the SP2 Area (Production Section 2) with its five units. The overhaul is scheduled to start March 15, and units are expected to remain offline until April 30.

Under normal conditions, major turnarounds are performed every six years. Although the last overhaul was in October 2004, different units have been brought offline separately since then for minor inspection. In March 2008, units from the SP1 area were shutdown for routine inspection for a 30-non-production-day period. Also, catalyst regeneration was performed on the 22,800-BBL/d reformer in February 2009.

The Flanders refinery, known also as the Dunkirk refinery, is one of the six refineries that Total leads in France. Created in 1974, the refinery produces a large range of products, such as liquified petroleum gas, domestic and industrial fuels, naptha, gas oil and lubricants.

The Flandres refinery shut down on September 12, for a non-specific period of time due to economic reasons. For more details, view September 10, 2009, article - Total Suspends Refining Operations in Dunkirk, France.

View Plant Profile - 1027129

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy related markets. For more than 26 years, Industrial Info has provided plant and project opportunity databases, market forecasts, high resolution maps, and daily industry news.