Decision due for Total's Dunkirk refinery

Doris Leblond
OGJ Correspondent

PARIS, Dec. 11 -- The future is in question for Total SA’s 137,000 b/d Dunkirk refinery, also called the Flanders refinery, in northern France.

Shut down since mid-September because of a product surplus in France, the refinery was to have been reopened 3 months later when its inventories had been drawn down if the market strengthened, Total spokesman Michael Crochet-Voure told OGJ.

With French refining capacity still underutilized, the refinery has now come under review. A decision must be made before a planned turnaround in March. Total’s options are to sell, shut down, transform, or mothball the refinery.

Crochet-Voure said no decision has been made. The facility’s 370 workers are still on the site.