Shell’s Pernis refinery has halted its hycon unit, a key conversion unit, because of a leak.

• The hycon unit maximises clean fuel output at Pernis by taking residual fuel and stripping out metals and sulfur in order to produce lighter fuels.
• The severity of the leak and potential down time is not clear at present with the leak only confirmed by Rotterdam-Rijnmond emergency services.
• Pernis is the biggest refinery in Europe.
• The news has had limited impact on cracks so far.