Galp suspends production at northern oil refinery

Portuguese oil refiner Galp has again suspended fuel production at the Leça da Palmeira refinery in Matosinhos due to “national and international market conditions” arising from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, it confirmed to Lusa, the official source.

According to the company, “this adjustment involves the temporary suspension, since 10 October, of fuel production at the Matosinhos refinery, with no impact on Galp’s employees assigned to this activity.”

The news, advanced by the newspaper Público on Tuesday, states that the workers will have been informed that this is a stop until January.

Galp also made it clear that the Matosinhos refinery will continue to produce Base and Aromatic Oils, as usual – as it did at the previous stop.

The oil company also guarantees “an adequate level” of supply to the national market, ensuring the “needs of the Portuguese, the companies and the industrial units”, through the existing stocks at Matosinhos, as well as through the production that remains at the Sines Refinery.

The fuel unit at the Matosinhos refinery had resumed its activity on 19 July, after being suspended in April due to the impossibility of disposing of production due to the fall in demand during the lockdown.

The containment and shutdown measures for most economic activities led from March onwards to a drop in demand for oil products (and especially jet fuel, used in aviation), which forced supply to decrease due to the limited storage capacity of these products.