Shell to shut down German oil refinery, convert to chemicals

SHELL will shut down its oil refinery in Wesseling, Germany, by 2025 and convert the site to produce chemicals as part of its drive to reduce its carbon emissions, the company said on Friday (Jan 26).

Shell said it will convert the site’s hydrocracker unit into a production unit for Group III base oils with capacity of about 300,000 tonnes a year, equivalent to about 9 per cent of current EU demand and 40 per cent of Germany’s demand for base oils.

The move is expected to reduce Shell’s operational carbon emissions, known as Scope 1 and 2 emissions, by about 620,000 tonnes a year.

Shell, which aims to cut overall greenhouse gas emissions – including those from fuels burnt by customers – to net zero by 2050, is also planning to sell its refining and petrochemicals site in Singapore.

Crude oil processing at the Wesseling site, which is part of Shell’s Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland near Cologne, will end in 2025 but will continue at its Godorf refinery, the company said.

The new production facility in Wesseling is expected to start operations in the second half of this decade.

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The Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland, which includes both the Wesseling and Godorf sites, currently has a capacity of more than 17 million tonnes of crude oil per year, of which Wesseling produces 7.5 million tonnes.

Shell previously invested in a 10 megawatt electrolyser used to produce zero-carbon hydrogen and a biomethane liquefaction plant at the Rheinland facility.

Since 2020, Shell has divested five refineries, closed one and converted one into a terminal. REUTERS