Altona Refinery

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Altona Refinery
Altona Oil Refinery Victoria.jpg
Australia Victoria location map.svg
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Location of Altona Refinery
Country Australia
State Victoria
City Altona North
Coordinates 37°51′S144°51′E / 37.85°S 144.85°E / -37.85; 144.85
Refinery details
Owner(s) ExxonMobil
Commissioned1949
Decommissioned2022 (planned)
Capacity90,000 bbl/d (14,000 m3/d)
No. of employees350 (2021)

The Altona Refinery is an oil refinery in Altona North, Victoria, Australia, operated by ExxonMobil. [1] [2] The refinery is located next to Kororoit Creek which is not navigable. Ships unload at a pier on Point Gellibrand in nearby Williamstown.

Contents

Its output was 14.5 million litres of refined oil products each day. Employing 350 staff (in 2019), it was the smallest refinery in Australia, but also one of the oldest. [3] The facility stopped refining fuel in 2020, and switched to a fuel importing and distribution network.

History

The Altona Refinery construction commenced in 1946 and was completed in 1954. [2] It was constructed by Braun Transworld Corporation for Standard Vacuum Oil Company. [4] The refinery was upgraded in 2004 to comply with new national fuel standards. By 2005 the refinery was struggling with cutbacks and less demand seeing the facility struggling to survive. There has been some talk of its closure since at least 2014, due to competition from other refineries in Asia. [5] However demand grew and in 2016 production had increased, and the facility was not only being fully utilised, but a $20 million investment saw one of the existing crude oil units get a pre-distillation stage added, enabling the growth of its production of premium products. [6] Demand dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic, and output was decreased. [7]

Output of the facility

In 2016 the refinery's overall production was 80,000 barrels per day, 60% of that being petrol, 30% diesel and 10% jet fuel, which is piped directly to Melbourne Airport. [8] It also produces LPG. The refinery could produce petrol with 1% benzene and diesel with a maximum sulfur content of 50ppm. To improve quality after the 2004 upgrade, sulfur content in diesel was further reduced to 10ppm.

80 storage tanks were used to store the products produced by the refinery. From here, around 90% of products are transported to ExxonMobil Australia's Yarraville Terminal using a pipeline, with the distribution of the products there by road and rail. LPG produced by the refinery would then go to the Qenos plant, at the Altona chemical complex. It would also go to the Geelong LyondellBasell chemical plant.

Closure and future plans

In February 2021, ExxonMobil announced the Altona Refinery would close and be converted to a fuel import terminal. [9] [10] [11] By 2022, most of the refinery processes had been closed, with some of the facilities that would be integrated into the new import facility remaining.

The decommission of the refinery infrastructure was that will not be part of the future terminal was underway in 2022. The site is still an active fuel distribution network, so the decommissioning had to take place in an environment that was still operating as a business, as fuel tanks and truck continued to drop off and collect fuel for distribution. Future decommissioning work is likely to go into the mid-2020s. Plans were for the fuel to be shipped into the deep water port at Point Gellibrand, and then moved to Yarraville. [12]

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References

  1. ↑ "Altona Refinery, Melbourne". Hydrocarbons Technology. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  2. ↑ ExxonMobil (12 April 2019). "A milestone year for the Australian energy supply chain". Create. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  3. ↑ "Altona Refinery: An Argus Souvenir This Genie Rose Out of a Smoky Lamp". The Argus (Melbourne) . Victoria, Australia. 5 April 1955. p. 28. Retrieved 13 March 2021– via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ Ker, Peter (2 May 2014). "ExxonMobil's Altona oil refinery finds a formula for survival". Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  5. ↑ Ker, Peter (12 May 2016). "Exxon refines a growth story at Altona". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  6. ↑ "Refiners struggle with fuel slump". Australian Financial Review . 19 April 2020. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  7. ↑ Ker, Peter (12 May 2016). "Exxon refines a growth story at Altona". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  8. ↑ "ExxonMobil to Convert Altona Refinery to Import Terminal". ExxonMobil (Press release). Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  9. ↑ "Workers devastated as ExxonMobil closes Melbourne refinery". ABC News . 10 February 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  10. ↑ "Exxon to close Australian refinery". Reuters . 9 February 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  11. ↑ "Altona Terminal| ExxonMobil Australia". ExxonMobil. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
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