ExxonMobil will undertake turnaround maintenance at its interconnected 191,000-b/d Botlek refinery and Rotterdam Aromatics Plant in the Netherlands, beginning in the first quarter of next year, OPIS has learned.
Local sources say that the on-site physical work for the integrated event will begin in the second half of February 2021 and last until the third week of May. Unit inspectors are due on the site by the middle of February, one Rotterdam-based source told OPIS.
The refinery is one of Europe's most efficient plants and was subject to a $1-billion expansion project that was completed in 2019. The project made the refinery Europe's largest producer of Group II base stocks in addition to boosting diesel output.
The aromatics plant receives its basic raw materials from the refinery and is "one of the largest aromatics production facilities in the world", according to the ExxonMobil website. "It is one of the few facilities in the world that can produce the entire range of aromatic hydrocarbons," the company said.
The plant's benzene and paraxylene capacities are 785,000 metric tons/year and 720,000 mt/year, respectively, according to IHS Markit, the parent company of OPIS.
The Rotterdam refinery is also integrated with ExxonMobil's wider European refinery operations. Product from the company's 320,000-b/d Antwerp refinery supplies feedstock via pipeline to the Rotterdam refinery.
Asked to confirm the turnaround, a spokeswoman for ExxonMobil in the Netherlands told OPIS: "As per our usual practice, we will not comment on questions and speculations on the operational status of our facilities in Rotterdam."
--Reporting by Anthony Lane, alane@opisnet.com; Editing by Frank Tang, ftang@opisnet.com
