BP to close Australian oil refinery, losses seen outlasting pandemic

MELBOURNE: BP plc plans to stop producing fuel in Australia and will convert its loss-making Kwinana oil refinery, the biggest of the country’s four, into a fuel import terminal because of tough competition in Asia, the global major said on Friday.

BP is the first of Australia’s four refiners to pull the plug on its plant in the wake of this year’s slump in demand, triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. Two rivals have also flagged that they are considering the future of their plants.

BP said it would wind down operations at the 146,000 barrels per day (bpd) plant in Western Australia over the next six months, affecting 650 jobs, but did not say how much the closure and conversion would cost.