CLOSURE OF BP SWEDEN REFINERY FORECAST
A Swedish Finance Ministry committee
forecast that British Petroleum Plc <BP.L> may have to close
its refinery in Gothenburg because of an anticipated worsening
of the Swedish petroleum industry's competitiveness.
    It said in a report that the future of the Swedish refining
business was bleak due to the steady drop in domestic oil
consumption since the mid-1970s, a possible tightening of rules
on sulphur content and competition from Norway's Mongstad
facility of <Den Norske Stats Olieselskab> (Statoil) <STAT.OL>
when its expansion is completed in the 1990s.
    The committee said the BP refinery, which lacks a
de-sulphurisation plant, was likely to be closed or sold unless
costly investments were made to enhance the facility's capacity
to refine a broader range of products.
    But the committee noted that capacity utilisation had in
recent years been above that of the European refining industry
on average. The BP plant, in which Sweden's state-owned <OK
Petroleum AB> has a 22 pct, started up in 1967 and has an
annual capacity of 4.7 mln tonnes.
    There was nobody at British Petroleum immediately available
for comment.
