Hydrogen unit shuttered at Neste’s Porvoo refinery

Aug. 18, 2014
Neste Oil Corp. has shuttered a hydrogen production unit for repairs at its 205,000-b/d Porvoo refinery in the Kilpilahti Industrial Area, about 20 miles east of Helsinki, Finland.

Neste Oil Corp. has shuttered a hydrogen production unit for repairs at its 205,000-b/d Porvoo refinery in the Kilpilahti Industrial Area, about 20 miles east of Helsinki, Finland.

“One of the two hydrogen production units at the Porvoo refinery has been damaged, and production at the site has been reduced,” Neste Oil reported.

While it did not disclose the nature or cause of the damage, the company said that preliminary findings indicate repairs to the unit will take several weeks.

A more accurate timetable for the unit’s repair should emerge within the next 2 weeks, at which time Neste Oil said it will be able to estimate the incident’s impact to production and profitability.

The unit’s shutdown, however, will not have any impact on product deliveries for which the company already has contracted, Neste Oil said.

Neste Oil in April let a contract to Linde Group, Munich, for long-term hydrogen supply at the Porvoo refinery, under which Linde agreed to invest in and be responsible for the construction of a new hydrogen production plant at the refinery to replace the older of Porvoo’s two existing hydrogen units (OGJ Online, Apr. 28, 2014).

Construction work on the $139 million project was to start immediately, with the unit scheduled to be commissioned in summer 2016, Neste Oil said.