Restructuring of the French refining industry is almost complete.
Thirteen refineries, down from 22 in 1980, are working at 88% of their 1.82 million b/d capacity, up from 83% at yearend 1988.
French refining got a boost last year from a 3.5% increase in domestic oil consumption to 1.6 million b/d, the highest level since 1983. The boost came from increased motor fuel consumption, especially diesel.
There also was an unexpected bonus from a summer drought that forced Electricity de France to buy an added 11.7 million bbl of heavy fuel oil to offset reduced output from hydroelectric stations.
PROFITS JUMP
The upturn in refining produced higher profits for the seven major downstream companies, units of Total CFP, Ste. Nationale Elf Aquitaine, Exxon Corp., British Petroleum Co. plc, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Mobil Corp., and Petrofina SA.
Their combined profits from French refining rose to 750 million francs ($132.5 million) from only 16 million francs ($2.82 million) in 1988. French refiners have accumulated losses of 63 billion francs ($11.13 billion) during the past 1 0 years.
Last year the French downstream industry spent 1.5 billion francs ($265 million), mainly in refining, to improve product quality and increase production of unleaded gasoline.
However, high accumulated losses hamper the industry's long term ability to continue the investments.
During 1989 unleaded sales rose from almost nil to about 5% of the French premium market.
French refiners exported 950,000 tons of unleaded gasoline last year, double the volume of 1988.
Most of the exports went to the U.S.
Copyright 1990 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
