Bitumen Bazaar reports, Nynas' Harburg refinery in north Germany has been shut down for an extended period this winter and will produce a much more restricted volume of bitumen for the rest of this year once it starts up again, as Argus reports.
The focus of the refinery will now be on the production of naphthenic base oils and other speciality lubricants once the refinery restarts after the shutdown, the length of which is not clear. 
Bitumen market participants expect little or no bitumen to be produced at Harburg until the summer, with any short fall covered by imports from elsewhere in northern Europe.  Nynas said it would have a "much more limited supply of bitumen out of this refinery during the 2022 season". 
Striving plans to increase bitumen output announced late in 2020 have now seemingly been shelved. With US sanctions on Venezuelan crude exports remaining in place, Nynas has switched its refinery feedstocks from the South American country's bitumen-rich crudes to alter natives, including naphthenic crudes from the US and Brazil, as well as Russian straight-run fuel oil. 
Plans to increase production of naphthenic base oils will come as welcome news for EU blenders as Nynas remains the sole domestic producer of these speciality grades. Naphthenic base oil buyers in Europe, US and Asia-Pacific had taken steps to diversify supply sources in 2019 amid uncertainty about the impact of a changing crude slate on base oil production. 
European buyers also cover demand through imports of naphthenic base oils from producers in North America. Nynas has a total naphthenic base oil nameplate capacity of around 730,000 t/yr at its Harburg and Nynashamn refineries. The firm operates four refineries in Europe — Nynashamn and Gothenburg in Sweden, Harburg, and the Eastham refinery in the UK, which is a joint venture with Shell. 
Nynas has been through a series of financial restructurings in recent years and is now owned by US investment firm Davidson Kempner with 49.9pc, with the rest owned by Venezuela's PdV with 15pc and an independent Swedish foundation.