Tüpraş to halt output at oil refinery in İzmir

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s largest oil refiner Tüpraş will temporarily stop production at its 220,000-barrel-per-day İzmir oil refinery as coronavirus lockdowns hit fuel demand, the firm has said in a stock exchange filing.

Output at the refinery, which has an annual processing capacity of 11.9 million tons, will be suspended from May 5 until July 1, according to the filing.

“We have revised downwards our expectation for our 2020 production in line with the negative impact of global Covid-19 outbreak on fuel demand. In this framework, our production at İzmir Refinery will be temporarily and in phases halted,” the company said.

Tüpraş, owned by Koç Holding, is operating 4 refineries with a total processing capacity of 30 million tons.

The company also holds more than half of the country’s petroleum products storage capacity of nearly 7 million cubic meters, or 44,000 barrels.

After the crash in oil prices in early March, Turkey’s storage tanks filled up, according to local media.

Under normal level of demand conditions, that amount of oil would be consumed in Turkey in about 70 days. However, the demand is low due to the intercity and international travel restrictions imposed by the government to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Flag carrier company Turkish Airlines has suspended all domestic and foreign passenger flights until May 28.