BP completes sale of Gelsenkirchen refinery to Klesch Group

Published Aug 3, 09:45 AM UTC

BP has finalized the sale of its Gelsenkirchen refinery and related businesses in Germany to independent refiner Klesch Group, a divestment first announced in March as part of BP's portfolio optimization strategy. Financial terms were not disclosed. The sale is expected to reduce BP's underlying operating expenditure by around $1 billion and is projected to be free cash flow accretive. The transaction includes the Horst and Scholven sites, an integrated refining and petrochemical hub, and the Bottrop tank farm. The refinery has a crude distillation capacity of approximately 265,000 barrels per day, processing about 12 million tonnes of crude oil annually to produce gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, heating oil, and petrochemical feedstocks. All employees at the refinery and associated businesses have transferred to Klesch Group. Following the sale, BP's refining portfolio consists of five refineries in the US and Europe. For Klesch Group, the acquisition adds to its existing German refinery at Heide and its Kalundborg refinery in Denmark.