* To produce low sulphur, cleaner fuels
* Due onstream in the second half of 2011
* Most production for domestic heating oil
AMSTERDAM, Aug 13 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) will build a new plant costing $500 million at its Pernis refinery in the Netherlands to increase production of cleaner fuels, it said on Thursday.
The plant, a hydrodesulphurisation unit, is expected to come onstream in the second half of 2011 and will produce low-sulphur fuels at Europe’s biggest oil refinery, which has a capacity of about 400,000 barrels per day.
Most of the production will be aimed for use as domestic heating oil in German households, which must comply with strict new sulphur content requirements, Shell said in a statement.
The construction is part of Shell’s plans to expand its downstream activities and focus on larger refining sites, the oil major said.
It is also part of planned upgrades for Pernis, a spokesman said. Shell has said it wants to shift the focus of the plant towards wider exports and was considering investing up to 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in Pernis over the next five to seven years.
The new plant will be built on the site of an old unit which has been cleared away. Its construction is not expected to affect normal operations at the refinery, the spokesman said.
($1=.7079 Euro) (Reporting by Catherine Hornby, editing by Anthony Barker)
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