The 400,000-barrels-per-day Nerefco refinery in Rotterdam will be partially shut  for lengthy maintenance as the European turnaround season reaches its climax, oil traders said.

Shell has already begun to bring its 416,000-bpd Pernis refinery in Rotterdam back, traders said, but several key plants in the Benelux trading hub and in Italy will join Nerefco by entering turnarounds soon.
   Shell officials would not comment on the oil major’s respective maintenance plans, and neither did spokesmen at BP and ChevronTexaco that jointly own the Nerefco refinery.
The autumn maintenance season has been heavier than normal this year across both northwest Europe and the Mediterranean, helping to tighten oil product supply and keep export arbitrages shut, including gasoline and gas oil arbs to the United States.