PARIS: ExxonMobil’s French downstream subsidiary Esso SAF said its two French refineries operated at 85% of their utilization rate for most of last year, with operations having improved in the second half.
The company’s Fos sur Mer site in the Mediterranean registered 85% utilization throughout 2016 whereas Port Jerome Gravenchon in Northwest France operated at 85% during the last nine months of last year following an outage at the start of the year.
After the restart of a distillation unit at the end of March, Port Jerome had record production for the rest of the year and its annual utilization was 72.9%, the company said in a presentation.
The two refineries were the only one that remained operational during a strike last May and June. Overall, they processed 14.7 million mt of crude in 2016 compared with 14.8 million mt in 2015.
Esso reported a €120 million mt ($130 million) adjusted operating result last year, down €30 million on 2105.
The drop was attributed to declining refining margins in 2016, but their impact was mitigated by improved operational performance in the second half and lower operating expenses.
The average indicative refining margins dropped to €25 per metric ton last year versus €45 per metric ton in 2015, Esso said, citing French government data. The margin has risen to €30 per metric ton in the first three months of 2017.
Despite the general drop in sales in France, the Gravenchon outage at the start of 2016, and strikes at the start of the summer, Esso recorded a 1.6% increase in its sales of fuel, including jet, motor fuel and heating oil, last year, it said.
Meanwhile, diesel demand in France is down and expected to drop by up to 13% by 2025. The share of diesel cars in the French car fleet is also in decline, with new registrations having dropped below 50% last September.
Nonetheless, France continues to rely on distillate imports, as French refineries can meet only half of the 900,000 b/d consumption.
Following restructuring which saw French refining capacity reduced by 37% between 2009 and 2017, French refineries’ capacity stands at 1.24 million b/d compared with 1.49 million b/d demand, Esso said, quoting data from UFIP and the government.
France imports 20 million metric ton of diesel a year and exports five million mt of gasoline.
Its Fos refinery has reduced its dependence on gasoline exports and recorded “excellent flexibility”.
In early 2017, Fos carried out a major maintenance, involving the change of the reactor and the regeneration part of the FCC.
