Neste announces two-month shutdown of Naantali oil refinery to allow integration with Porvoo refinery
Neste plans to shut down its oil refinery in Naantali, Finland, for two months beginning mid-August. The major turnaround will complete the plan first introduced in 2014 to implement closer integration of the operations of the two Finnish refineries under uniform management.
The Finnish refinery operations of Neste consist of four production lines at the Porvoo refinery and one in Naantali.
“With the ongoing investment program, we’re aiming for an additional margin of at least USD5.5 per barrel after the ongoing strategic investments in Porvoo and Naantali are completed,” says Matti Lehmus, executive vice president of Oil Products at Neste. “The production structure will be revamped to decrease the importance of heavy fuel oil and to increase the proportion of more valuable products.”
In the future, the Naantali production line will produce gasoline, diesel fuel and special products, including solvents and bitumen. Naantali also produces important feedstocks such as vacuum gas oil for the Porvoo refinery’s production lines. Naantali’s terminal capacity will be used to distribute products produced in Porvoo and Naantali.
Planned major turnarounds are significant projects for the maintenance of the refinery’s competitiveness, safety and reliability, and they are carried out every four to five years.
Furthermore, statutory pressure equipment inspection and maintenance require scheduled shutdowns. The previous major turnaround at Naantali took place in 2012. The impending turnaround will be the most extensive ever carried out at the Naantali refinery.
The multinational project will have a total of about 30 different nationalities among the contractors. The maximum workforce active at any one time will be 1,500.
The Naantali turnaround with the related investments aims to improve the competitiveness of the Finnish refinery operations of Neste. The total cost of the turnaround will be around EUR90 million (USD105.68 million).
