Shell expects base oil production at its Wesseling refinery to start in 2028, a company representative said at an event marking the end of crude processing at the site.
Shell currently has capacity to produce around 1.8 million metric tons per year of base oil from plants in Qatar and Singapore, after closing several sites the past couple decades.
Crude oil processing at Wesseling will come to an end after the D500 distillation unit goes fully offline next week. The refinery will process vacuum gasoil from the adjacent Godorf refinery, which will continue to process crude and make other feedstocks for Wesseling.
The base oil distillation unit has capacity of 300,000 t/y of API Group III base oil. When operational, it should satisfy about 9% of the European Union’s Group III demand and 40% of Germany’s demand, the company claimed.
“Upon completion in 2028, it will be the largest base oil plant in Germany and among the top 10 in Europe,” a refinery spokesperson said.
Details about the project are scant, said an industry observer.
“No one knows much about the project other than Shell Germany stopped runs at the refinery in March and since then they have had two columns delivered and are installing them now,” Ray Masson, a base oil industry consultant, told Lube Report. “Not sure if they will export or retain all production for the European market.”
Four hydrocracker chambers that previously supplied the D500 unit will be reconfigured to partly supply the new base oil unit and other facilities, according to media reports. Meanwhile, the vacuum column for the new base oil unit was installed in mid-February 2025 while another column has also been delivered.