Porthos – Rotterdam’s refining saviour?

Refining margins will remain healthy through the 2020s but will start to decline by 2030 as global demand peaks, new large refineries emerge in Asia and sanctions on Russia ease. With the energy transition accelerating, we foresee global oil demand growth slowing and impacting refiners’ margins. They are already developing strategies that will help them improve their margins and be carbon competitive. Achieving a low-carbon future requires not just carbon avoidance but also carbon removal through carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS), particularly for hard-to-abate sectors. In this piece we take an in-depth look at Porthos, a CCS project currently under development in the North Sea, near Rotterdam, and how it will affect the two refineries involved in the project: Pernis (Shell) and Esso (ExxonMobil).