La Mède refinery
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (April 2021) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
43°23′51″N 5°06′09″E / 43.39755°N 5.10246°E
The La Mède refinery is a biorefinery that previously operated as a traditional fossil fuel refinery owned by TotalEnergies in Châteauneuf-les Martigues near Marseille, France, and on the Etang de Berre.[1][2] The plant includes about 250 hectares.[2]
The biorefinery has a capacity of 500,000 tones of biofuels (hydrotreated vegetable oil) a year.[3] The plant conversion, started in 2015, finished in 2019 with EUR 275 million of capital expenditure.[3] In 2021, the plant announced production of aviation biofuel made from cooking oil.[4][5]
A 2018 agreement with the French government capped the amount of palm oil production at the facility at 300 000 tonnes, while requiring at least 50 000 tonnes of French-grown rapeseed oil.[3]
Environmental activists have criticized the plant for its reliance on palm oil, which has a track record of global environmental destruction and human rights violations.[1][6] Local farmers represented by Fédération nationale des syndicats d'exploitants agricoles also expressed concerns about palm oil competing with local oil production.[7][8]
History
[edit]The refinery was built in the early 1930s as one of two refineries (the other in Gonfreville)[9] whose purpose was to refine a new source of Middle Eastern crude oil. The Compagnie Francaise des Petroles held a 23.75% share in the Iraq Petroleum Company, which had struck oil in Kirkuk in 1927 and in 1934 had completed a pipeline to the Mediterranean Sea.
With the Fall of France, Syria and the pipeline terminal at Tripoli were under the control of the Vichy Government, but with Iraq on the side of the Allies, oil deliveries came to a halt. With the Syria–Lebanon campaign in the summer of 1941 the Allies regained control of the entire pipeline system and with the Battle of Marseille at the end of August 1944 gained control of the refinery.
The plant entered operation in 1935 as a crude oil and petrochemical plant.[10] The plant stopped production of petroleum in 2016.[11][10]
In 1992 the plant had a gas explosion.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Total palm oil refinery in Marseille, France". Environmental Justice Atlas. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
- ^ a b c "Gas explosion in the cat cracking and gas plant units of a refinery" (PDF). French Ministry of Environment - DPPR / SEI / BARPI. 9 November 1992.
- ^ a b c "Total starts up La Mède Biorefinery". Bioenergy International. 2019-07-04. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
- ^ "Total produces sustainable aviation fuel in France". tradearabia.com. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
- ^ "TOT Starts Making Sustainable Aviation Fuel in France". www.rigzone.com. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
- ^ "Greenpeace blocks Total biorefinery that uses palm oil". France 24. 2019-10-29. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
- ^ "Total to move ahead with using palm oil at biodiesel refinery". Reuters. 2019-05-30. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
- ^ "Total's biodiesel refinery on-track despite palm oil controversy | Biofuels International Magazine". biofuels-news.com. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
- ^ "Normandy Plant of French Company Incorporates Modern Trends in Design of New Equipment". The Oil and Gas Journal. Vol. 32, no. 4. 15 June 1933. p. 12.
- ^ a b "La Mede Biorefinery, Marseille, Châteauneuf-les-Martigues, France". Retrieved 2021-04-18.
- ^ "Total La Mede crude refining to cease: Update 3". www.argusmedia.com. 2015-04-16. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
 | This industry-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article about a French building or structure is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |