Esso SAF’s northern France refinery wraps major turnaround

Esso Societe Anonyme Francaise (SAF)—a majority owned subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corp. (82.89%)—has restarted operations following scheduled maintenance at Esso Raffinage SAS’ 12-million tonne/year (tpy) Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon refinery in Port-Jérôme-sur-Seine, Normandy, in northern France.

On May 12, Esso Raffinage began the process of gradually returning refinery units affected by the planned maintenance event to service, Esso SAF said.

The operator did not reveal when the phased restart would be fully completed.

Initiated on Mar. 1 with the sequential shutdown of certain unidentified units of the Port-Jérôme-sur-Seine refinery, the major turnaround was to involve detailed inspections of refinery equipment normally in continuous operation, Esso SAF said on Feb. 28.

Designed to improve the site's environmental performance and competitiveness, the turnaround also was to include implementation of numerous unspecified projects, including some aimed at improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.

While SAS confirmed completion of inspection and maintenance works during the 2025 turnaround, the operator remained silent on other projects undertaken during the maintenance event.

The Gravenchon refinery’s turnaround followed Esso SAF’s 2024 divestment of its Fos-sur-Mer integrated refinery in the Bouches-du-Rhône region of southern France’s Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, as well as parent ExxonMobil’s permanent shutdown of its 100%-owned ExxonMobil Chemical France primary chemical production unit at the Gravenchon site co-located near Esso SAF’s Port-Jérôme-sur-Seine operations (OGJ Online, Aug. 2, 2024).