Nynas to convert Harburg refinery site into terminal

Spanish Market: Oil products
07/06/23

Swedish specialities producer Nynas is to convert its 50,000 b/d Harburg, Germany, refinery site into a tank terminal including bitumen storage.

No timeframe or capacity details for the conversion project were disclosed by the company.

The firm, which gradually ramped up bitumen and naphthenic oils production at Harburg through to 2020 after buying the refinery from Shell in 2011, said in February last year that it would slash bitumen production in a switch to naphthenic base oils output.

It then opted to close the Hamburg area refinery in June last year as part of a wider strategy of focusing on its core geographic markets, notably the Scandinavia region where the firm runs its Nynashamn and Gothenburg refineries in Sweden and its 50/50 joint venture Eastham refinery with Shell in the UK.

Nynas said in May 2022 that it would reduce its direct sales presence in the Asia-Pacific region and focus on delivering to its bitumen and naphthenic base oils customers in Europe. That followed the firm's announcement the previous month that it would discontinue bitumen sales into the Polish market, although it still owns and operates its Szczecin terminal.

That terminal is understood by market participants to be in use by another bitumen-producing oil company that is moving bitumen cargoes into Szczecin for onward truck delivery, mainly into Germany as supply of the product tightens because of crude, bitumen and feedstock supply issues linked to EU sanctions on Russia. The oil company has just moved a Rotterdam-loading cargo on the 6,175 dwt Iver Beauty into Szczecin, arriving on 3 June.

Nynas announced within weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that it would halt purchases of Russian crude and feedstocks, which had been an important new supply source after US sanctions on Venezuela banned purchases of the country's bitumen-rich crudes on which Nynas had historically been reliant.

By Keyvan Hedvat

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02/05/25

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Shell’s 1Q European gas production up

02/05/25

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Shell’s 1Q profit falls but beats expectations

02/05/25

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01/05/25

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Nigeria’s Warri refinery restart threatened by strike

01/05/25

Nigeria’s Warri refinery restart threatened by strike

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