Shell suspends Pernis refinery loadings after fire
LONDON (Reuters) — Royal Dutch Shell suspended loadings of oil products from its Pernis refinery in the Netherlands following a fire at the plant, the company said in a statement to traders on Sunday.
Shell shut down most of its production at Pernis, Europe's largest refinery, after the fire at the 404,000-bpd plant late on Saturday caused a power outage.
The company said that no casualties were reported in the incident and the fire was under control, but it expected loadings to be suspended on Monday as well.
In a statement to traders in the region seen by Reuters, Shell said that "at this stage the extent of the damage is (being) investigated and we are unable to load product at the depot in Pernis."
"For now we work on the assumption that FCA (free carrier) loadings at depot Pernis will be interrupted until and including tomorrow so please take your necessary precautions."
The outage at the Rotterdam plant was likely to boost prices of oil products such as diesel, jet fuel and gasoline in northwest Europe, where refinery profits have risen in recent weeks due to other refinery issues in the region.
Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Susan Fenton
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