European refiners come back on stream to catch bounce in demand

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - Several European refineries are coming back online in June and July in anticipation of increasing demand after lockdown restrictions are withdrawn and oil demand recovers further, according to various media reports.

Data from Atlanta Group Wednesday found the average performance for the company's toll motorways in Spain over the last four weeks was 6.3% below 2019 figures, compared to an average of 22.6% below for the prior four weeks, according to the preliminary data.

Spain's Repsol will rehire laid-off workers at its 135,000 b/d Puertollano refinery near Madrid on 21 June ahead of restarting production.

The temporary lay offs had been scheduled to last a further three months, but the company said that road fuel demand has picked up with Spain's vaccination campaign resulting in falling Covid-19 rates, according to local media.

Other restarts in south Europe include the Eni-KPC 235,000 b/d Milazzo refinery in Sicily after maintenance, according to Argus.  

TotalEnergies, formerly Total, is expected to restart its restarted the crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 240,000 b/d Gonfreville refinery this month, 18 months after it was taken offline by a fire.

The French energy company will also restart the 135,000 b/d Feyzin refinery in July, according to trading sources.

But TotalEnergies 220,000 b/d Donges refinery will stay offline until next year.

ExxonMobil's Gravenchon refinery in France has been restarting units since late May 29, according to Platts.