Shell Australia refinery outage to last into 2009

A temporary shutdown of Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Australia Clyde refinery will extend into 2009 due to ongoing maintenance work, a company spokesman said. The refinery in Sydney, with a capacity of 85,000 barrels per day, was idled at the end of November for the work, which was expected at the time to take about a month. The work was aimed to rectify problems that led to unplanned outages at the 82-year-old plant throughout the year. Shell has been importing fuels to meet customers’ orders since the refinery was halted. (December 31, 2008)