AMSTERDAM: Shell has begun planned maintenance of the Pernis refinery located near Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Reuters cited Shell as saying that the company will close large parts of the refinery complex until early May for maintenance.
The program requires one million man-hours of work by Shell employees and contractors, including an extra 2,000 staff.
According to a source, the refinery’s crude distillation unit and a hydro cracker unit have been shutdown for maintenance.
Spread over 1,400 acres, Pernis is a joint oil refinery/chemicals manufacturing site. The oil refinery is operated by Shell Nederland Raffinaderij and the chemicals plant by Shell Nederland Chemie.
With a capacity of about 400,000 barrels a day, Pernis is one of largest facilities owned by Shell. It includes a hydrocracker and a polygeneration plant.
