Europe switch to clean energy has hit hard at refineries

News on December 24. In recent years, Europe has introduced a series of climate policy actions, including promoting the integration of renewable energy sources such as solar energy and wind energy into the grid, supporting the development of electric vehicles, and leading to reducing the use of fossil fuels. These measures have led to many refineries in the EU. Business prospects are overshadowed. Over the past three years, many refineries have sought to sell, but few deals have been reached due to lack of buyers or price differences.

Royal Dutch Shell announced in June this year that it intends to sell around half of its refineries worldwide. ExxonMobil earlier this year sought to sell the Norwegian Slagan refinery, but to date has had no results.

Total also failed to sell its British Lindsay refinery, while Greece's largest refinery sought to sell a majority stake, but no one was interested. Last year, European fuel supplier Varo Energy BV was forced to cancel its listing plan due to unfavorable market conditions.

According to the BP report, European oil demand peaked in 2006. Since 2012, European refining capacity has been reduced by approximately 1.8 million barrels per day, and currently is 15.3 million barrels per day.

Industry insiders believe that 17% of European refineries have negative profit risks.