By JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
Russian oil major TNK-BP, half-owned by BP, said Friday that operations at the Lisichansk refinery in Ukraine have become unprofitable and it plans to further review its options for increasing efficiency.
TNK-BP "observed a serious deterioration of the domestic refining market in Ukraine in the fourth quarter of 2011," a spokesman said.
"The negative trends affecting refining economics in Ukraine have continued into the first quarter of 2012 and have a material effect on the financial results of TNK-BP's subsidiaries in the country," he said.
As a result the management is preparing to review possible actions to increase operational efficiency, he said.
The comments came after the Kommersant daily earlier Friday cited unnamed people close to the company as saying TNK-BP is considering shutting down operations at the Lisichansk refinery starting next month.
The refinery, which has a capacity of over 7 million tpy of crude oil, supplies oil products to Ukraine's Donetsk and Stavropol regions as well as to Russia's Krasnodar region.
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