The Fawley refinery located on England’s south coast has a processing capacity of 330,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) while the decommissioning unit produces 80,000 bpd constituting around 24% of the total capacity.
Exxon was quoted by Reuters as saying that the reconfiguration includes the decommissioning of one of Fawley’s three ‘pipestills’ -installations more commonly known as distillation towers, in which crude oil is boiled to separate it into its component parts.
"This is scheduled to take place in September 2012. The pipestill that is being decommissioned produces fuel oil, of which there is excess supply in the UK, and gas oil, which is currently being exported to a declining West African market."
The decommissioning will neither result in job loss, nor will it affect the output of the auto fuel and the company will also continuously explore potential opportunities to invest and enhance the diesel production.
The Fawley refinery is expected to decrease its distillation capacity for survival reasons.
