(Lingen) – The oil company BP plc wants to develop the Lingen site in Lower Saxony from a conventional refinery into an “integrated energy center” by 2030. The company explained this in the presence of Olaf Lies, Lower Saxony's Minister for Economic Affairs, Transport, Construction and Digitalization on the occasion of the refinery's 70th anniversary.
BP wants to install an electrolyzer for green hydrogen in Lingen, but is still waiting for IPCEI funding. © BP plc
One focus in the future will be on the production of biofuels and green hydrogen. “Depending on future market developments and possible scaling options,” BP plans to invest a mid to high three-digit million amount. The conversion of the previously conventional refinery is the next step in adapting to a changed market environment, said Patrick Wedeler, Managing Director of BP Europa SE.
Aviation fuel made from cooking oil and crude oil
“Sustainable” aviation fuel has been produced from used cooking oil in Lingen since February 2022. The biogenic component would be processed together with crude oil in the plants.
A trial to use another biogenic feedstock in the refinery process will begin in September. The oil from the oilseed plant Carinata (“Ethiopian mustard”), which grows quickly even in temperate climates, “significantly increases the availability of more sustainable raw materials for biogenic processing”.
Replace horror with green hydrogen
The redesign of the refinery not only requires an adjustment of the on-site facilities, but also of the energy sources. In the future, gray hydrogen, which is currently used for various industrial processes on site, should be gradually replaced by green hydrogen. As part of the “Lingen Green Hydrogen” project, the company wants to install a 100 megawatt electrolyzer, which could later be increased to more than 500 megawatts in order to produce several tons of green hydrogen per hour.
The Lingen refinery, which opened in 1953, served primarily to process the crude oil that was once mined in Lower Saxony. In 2022, a large part of the local oil was produced in Schleswig-Holstein (one million tons), followed by Lower Saxony (600.000 tons). Both federal states together produce around 90 percent of total German production, according to the Federal Natural Gas and Petroleum Association © BP plc
The project is in an “advanced planning stage” and the group is apparently waiting for IPCEI funding to be approved by the European Commission. If approved this year, the electrolyzer could be put into operation in early 2026. The electricity required should, at least “in the future”, come from two offshore wind projects in the North Sea, for which BP was awarded the contract in July. It remains unclear whether the hydrogen will be produced using green electricity before the wind farms are completed.
Industrial oil production in Germany began in 1858 in Wietze, Lower Saxony, west of Celle. © BP plc
The Lingen refinery, which opened in 1953, served primarily to process the crude oil that had once been produced in Lower Saxony on site. She has been part of BP since 2002. There, 750 people process around five million tonnes of crude oil per year into fuels, heating oil and chemical intermediate products for wholesale and intermediate trade as well as for petrol stations.
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BP refinery in Lingen: The focus at this location in the future will be on aviation fuel and hydrogen, the mineral oil company announced. © BP plc
