Croatian oil company INA announced that the temporary halt of the operation of its oil refinery in Rijeka, due to its modernization, will last until April 2023.
Currently, 69 % of the project is completed, while the works on modernization are 48 % completed. During the downtime, the modernization of the sulfur recovery units and hydrocracking units will be performed.
The winter period was chosen because the demand for fuels is significantly lower than in the summer, when it is not desirable for the security of supply to depend entirely on imports. After the completion of the works on hydrocracking and sulfur recovery units, their commissioning will follow, which is planned for April 2023.
Considering that the operation of the refinery will be suspended for several months, INA planned all activities related to market supply carefully in advance and took care of supplying the market with petroleum products by sea. To date, the company has managed to finish contracting all the necessary quantities of petroleum products in order to cover the period until April 2023, and the first quantities of fuel have already been delivered to INA’s logistics centers on the coast. The management said that five months is the shortest period in which the planned works can be carried out.