ExxonMobil Outlines Rotterdam Upgrade Plan

Exxon Mobil Corp plans to add high-quality lubricants production to its 190,000 barrel per day (bpd) Rotterdam refinery, the company said on Thursday.

 

Exxon is also considering expanding production of high-quality fuels such as diesel at Rotterdam, an investment in the struggling European refining sector that would follow a $1 billion project announced last year to expand diesel output at its 320,000 bpd Antwerp refinery.

 

The company said the upgrades remain subject to regulatory approval by Dutch authorities and funding approval by its Dutch affiliate, Esso Nederland BV.

 

Exxon declined comment on the cost of the plan, but Stephen George, chief economist at consultancy KBC Advanced Technologies (KBCAF), said based on the rough outline currently available the full project was unlikely to exceed 200 to 300 million euros.

 

The lubricant upgrade would allow Exxon to produce so-called Group II base oil feedstocks, which manufacture higher quality lubricants that have taken over much of the non-industrial market in Europe as a result of emissions regulations.

 

Exxon recently added Group II production to its plants in Asia and the United States.

 

The proposal filed with Dutch authorities also outlined a 40 percent increase in capacity at the refinery's 50,000 bpd hydrocracker to just under 70,000 bpd. The expansion would boost output of high-quality fuels, including ultra-low sulphur diesel.

 

Construction of the upgraded units is scheduled to begin in 2016, pending funding and regulatory authorization, with production beginning in 2018.