Within its efforts to reduce carbon emissions, the international energy and petrochemical company Shell has announced its plan to shut down its oil refinery in Wesseling, Germany by 2025. The company announced that it would convert the site to produce lubricant feedstock.

The hydrocracker unit at the Wesseling site will be converted into a production unit for Group III base oils, which are primarily used in engines as the company noted in its press release published on Friday. The unit will have a capacity of 300,000 metric tons per year, which is equivalent to 9% of current EU demand and 40% of Germany’s demand for base oils, it added.

By converting the site, Shell expects to reduce its operational carbon emissions, known as Scope 1 and 2 emissions, by approximately 620,000 tons per year. This is in line with the company’s goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, including emissions from fuels used by customers.

Crude oil processing at the Wesseling site, which is part of Shell’s Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland near Cologne, will end in 2025 but will continue at its Godorf refinery, the company said.

The new production facility in Wesseling is expected to start operations in the second half of this decade.

The Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland, which includes both the Wesseling and Godorf sites, currently has a capacity of more than 17 million tons of crude oil per year, of which Wesseling produces 7.5 million tons.

Notably, Shell has previously invested in sustainable energy solutions at the Rheinland facility, including a 10-megawatt (MW) electrolyze for producing zero-carbon hydrogen and a biomethane liquefaction plant.

Since 2020, Shell has divested five refineries, closed one, and converted one into a terminal.