Oil Refineries Ltd

Oil Refineries Ltd.

Type	Public
Traded as	TASE: ORL
Industry	Energy, Chemicals
Founded	1954
Headquarters	Haifa, Israel
Key people	Yossi Rosen, Chairman Yashar Ben-mordechai, CEO
Products	Petroleum products, Petrochemicals
Revenue	NIS 15,520 million (2010)[1]
Operating income	NIS 162.52 million (2010)
Profit	NIS 272.49 million (2010)
Employees	1,200 (2009)
Subsidiaries	Carmel Olefins Ltd. Gadiv Petrochemical Industries Ltd.
Website	www.orl.co.il

Oil Refineries Ltd. (ORL or BAZAN, Hebrew: בז"ן – בתי זיקוק לנפט בע"מ‎), located in Haifa Bay, is Israel's largest Oil refinery. Using its state-of-the-art industrial facilities, ORL is capable of refining approximately 9.8 million tons of crude oil per year providing a variety of products used in industrial operation, transportation, private consumption, agriculture and infrastructure.

Its origins date to the British Mandate for Palestine when Consolidated Refineries Limited (CRL), a joint venture of Shell and the Anglo-American Oil Company (now Esso), started constructing the complex which sat at the end of the British-built Mosul-Haifa oil pipeline which stretched from the oil fields near Kirkuk in then British-controlled Iraq. Construction of the refinery started in 1938 and was carried out by the M. W. Kellogg Co. with assistance from Solel Boneh, and was completed in 1944. During World War II, the complex supplied refined products to British and American forces operating in the Mediterranean and North African theaters, and was bombed 21 times during the early stage of the war, though the damage it suffered was quickly repaired. Due to concerns about the Arab League Boycott, the British Government sold CRL to the State of Israel in 1958 which then changed its name to Oil Refineries Ltd. Since then the complex has undergone significant expansion and upgrades. In the past, ORL also owned the Ashdod Oil Refinery in southern Israel and therefore as a company, it held a monopoly over oil refining in the country. This changed in 2006, when the Ashdod facilities were sold to the Paz Oil Company, while at the same time ORL became a public company and its shares were listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

With the refining business currently representing 90% of the Company's total activities, ORL produces refined products with a high added value by using complex refinery facilities and at 7.4 on the Nelson complexity index, among the highest in the Eastern Mediterranean region.^[2] The Company has a maximum crude oil refining capacity of approximately 24,800 tons per day (180,000 barrels per day (29,000 m³/d)). Over 75% of the Company's produce goes to local consumption, while the balance is exported, primarily to the Mediterranean basin.

The company is also active in the area of Polymers and Aromatics through its holdings in Carmel Olefins Ltd.^[3] and wholly owned Gadiv Petrochemical Industries Ltd.^[4] Oil Refineries is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the ticker ORL.

The Company also provides power and heat services (electricity and steam) to industrial customers in Haifa Bay, as well as infrastructure services (storage, pumping, and truck and rail loading of fuel and chemical products).

Oil Refineries Ltd.'s vast petrochemical plants have released significant amounts of pollution to the environment around Haifa Bay. However, starting in March 2011, after being connected to the new national natural gas distribution grid, the plants will switch to using natural gas (rather than mostly fuel oil) as their main power source, thus greatly reducing the amount of air pollution emanating from the complex. The switch to natural gas is also expected to save the company over US$180 million per year in fuel costs.

References

1. ^ "Oil Refineries Ltd.". Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. 2011. http://www.tase.co.il/TASEEng/General/Company/companyDetails.htm?ShareId=02590248&CompanyID=000259&subDataType=0. Retrieved 31 August 2011. 
2. ^ "Oil Refineries Ltd. - Company Description", Hoover's - A D&B Company, http://www.hoovers.com/company/Oil_Refineries_Ltd/hjhksi-1.html, retrieved 2010-05-26 
3. ^ Carmel-Olefins
4. ^ Gadiv

External links

• Official site

Coordinates: 32°47′36″N 35°03′07″E / 32.7934°N 35.0519°E / 32.7934; 35.0519 (Haifa Oil Refineries)