16 out of 98 european oil refineries closed and/or on sale

This is an interesting report I found in French, the Google Translation of which I'm sharing here after manual improvements. Anyone thinking the economy is improving is living in wonderland.

Sixteen of 98 European refineries are currently closed or on sale, said Thursday the president of the French Union of Petroleum Industries (UFIP) Jean-Louis Schilansky, suggesting a context of "very soft"demand for petroleum products.

Four of these refineries are closed and 12 are on sale, said Schilansky, speaking on the occasion of the publication of a White Paper of the European Association of Petroleum Industry on refining in Europe.
[...]
The refining sector has been undergoing several months an unprecedented crisis in Europe, which melted its margins as a result of a fall in demand due mainly to environmental policies and the economic downturn.

According UFIP, the 12 refineries located in France have lost "more than one billion euros in 2009." The margin of the industry - a margin he "suffered", said Mr Schilansky and results from the difference between the price of crude oil and finished petroleum product prices - fell to $15 per tonne in 2009 , against $39 in 2008.

"Economically, it was very difficult to understand why people would buy refineries today," said Mr Schilansky. "But there may be various reasons why an operator shows interest," he said, including the possibility of putting his hand on a network of petrol stations for example.

Despite a slight increase in margins in the industry in early 2010, the UFIP "sees no fundamental reorganization of these margins in the current context", said Mr Schilansky. "For us, it is a cyclical upturn, which has already fallen," he judged.

In Europe, according to UFIP, "a dozen refineries" would have to be closed to achieve a balance between supply and demand.

12 refineries is about 13% of the total capacity in Europe.

Here's the original text, for those French reading visitors:

Seize raffineries européennes sur 98 sont aujourd'hui à l'arrêt ou en vente, a déclaré jeudi le président de l'Union française des industries pétrolières (Ufip) Jean-Louis Schilansky, évoquant un contexte de demande "très molle" de produits pétroliers.

Parmi ces raffineries, quatre sont à l'arrêt et 12 sont en vente, a précisé M. Schilansky, qui s'exprimait à l'occasion de la publication d'un livre blanc de l'association européenne de l'industrie pétrolière (Europia) sur le raffinage en Europe.

En France, une raffinerie, celle de Total à Dunkerque, est actuellement à l'arrêt, et une autre, celle de Petroplus à Reichstett, près de Strasbourg, est en vente, a-t-il détaillé.

Le secteur du raffinage subit depuis plusieurs mois déjà une crise sans précédent en Europe, qui a fait fondre ses marges sous l'effet d'une chute de la demande due notamment aux politiques écologiques et à la récession économique.

Selon l'Ufip, les 12 raffineries implantées en France ont perdu "plus d'un milliard d'euros en 2009". La marge du secteur --une marge qu'il "subit", a rappelé M. Schilansky et qui résulte de la différence entre le prix du pétrole brut et le prix des produits pétroliers finis-- a chuté à 15 dollars par tonne en 2009, contre 39 dollars en 2008.