Vitol

• Refining
• Locations

What we do

Vitol has been involved in refining since it was established in 1966, both through direct ownership and indirectly through processing agreements.

Vitol’s growing refining presence is focused on three specific areas:

• Owned and Operated: Vitol currently owns and operates over 100 kbd of refining assets closely linked with our tankage facilities, in Fujairah and Antwerp.
• Crude Supply Agreements, Products Offtake and Stock Financing: In the US, we have a supply/offtake arrangement with Coffeyville Resources Refining and Marketing for about 80 kbd. Our global energy trading presence, combined with our strong balance sheet, allow us to tailor specific agreements that can provide benefits to all our refining counterparties.
• Processing Agreements: These allow Vitol to lease unused refining capacity to try and benefit from positive refining margins. Our global access to crude and feedstock may provide attractive crude input options, and the products produced can be made available to our product trading teams. The refinery profits from the processing fee and the ability to lock in a refining margin for that part of its capacity that is leased to Vitol.

Further detail

As more detailed background to Vitol’s refining activity, the company’s first actual ownership and operation of a refinery came when it acquired what was then known as the Come By Chance refinery in Newfoundland in 1994. This was subsequently renamed the “North Atlantic Refining Company” (NARL). Owning and operating this refinery for 13 years with an excellent operating performance provided the experience that underpinned Vitol’s subsequent broader expansion into the refining sector.

Vitol’s refinery expansion continued with the acquisition of a 90% stake in the Fujairah Terminal Limited (FTL) in 2007 with refining and storage assets in the Emirate of Fujairah (UAE), on the Indian Ocean, south of the Straits of Hormuz.

The refinery had been mothballed since 2003 and following maintenance it is now able to operate at up to 80,000 barrels per day. There is still additional land to expand and further investment opportunities are being considered. Since the purchase, significant additional investment has been made, with now over 1m m3 of product storage in place.

In January 2010, Vitol completed the acquisition of the refining assets in Antwerp that previously belonged to Petrolpus Holding AG. The facilities are located in the Port of Antwerp and are connected to an extensive pipeline network and harbour infrastructure providing flexibility for hydrocarbon feedstock, intermediates and finished products. The facilities have one of the largest bitumen processing plants in the Benelux region with a capacity of approximately 875,000 tonnes per annum and a tank storage facility with a potential capacity of approximately 450,000 cubic metres after additional investment.

The future

Vitol continues to look for opportunities to work with crude oil producers to access our owned refinery system and with other refiners to optimise their investment by accessing the best possible crude oil and feedstock alternatives, getting best values on products and leveraging our access to the best possible financial terms.