Shell
UK-headquartered oil major; operator of Europe's largest refinery and major Rotterdam trading desk.
Since BP took its 400,000 barrel-a-day Rotterdam refinery fully offline on 1 May 2026, Shell's roughly 404,000 b/d Pernis plant has stood as northwest Europe's largest refinery still running crude.
Last refreshed: 3 August 2026 · Appears in 3 active topics
With BP Rotterdam offline, is Shell Pernis the last major NWE refiner standing?
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European Oil MarketsBackground
Shell plc is one of the world's largest integrated oil and gas companies, headquartered in London following its 2022 simplification from Royal Dutch Shell. Its upstream, LNG and integrated gas portfolios span every major producing basin, while its downstream refining and trading operations are anchored in northwest Europe. Shell's Rotterdam trading desk is among the most active physical crude and products traders on the continent, handling millions of barrels a month across North Sea, West African and Middle Eastern grades.
Shell's European refining footprint includes Pernis (Rotterdam, roughly 404,000 b/d), the continent's largest single refinery, alongside Wesseling (Germany, roughly 200,000 b/d, run as the Rheinland refinery via a joint venture with BP) and Gothenburg (Sweden, roughly 80,000 b/d).
Under chief executive Wael Sawan, appointed January 2023, Shell has concentrated capital in its highest-return upstream and integrated gas businesses while selectively rationalising downstream assets, even as Pernis's scale and complexity keep it a structurally important northwest European refiner.
Pernis became the region's anchor refiner
BP took both crude units at its 400,000 b/d Rotterdam refinery offline from 1 May 2026, with no confirmed restart date given at the time . That leaves Shell's roughly 404,000 b/d Pernis site, on the same Rotterdam waterfront, as the largest single refinery still running crude in northwest Europe.
For Shell, the outage does double duty: Pernis faces fewer regional competitors bidding into the same gasoil market, while the Rotterdam trading desk sitting alongside it is pricing cargoes into a thinner northwest European product balance. A rival refiner going dark strengthens both the plant and the desk that trades around it.
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