Unipetrol stated on Friday, that two weeks maintenance shutdown of the Litvinov refinery and the steam cracker of Chemopetrol was planned, despite earlier press reports that it is an unexpected one. The company added that Kralupy refinery will operate at full steam in the period and Litvinov refinery will only reduce utilization rate (no full shutdown of the refinery). Thus, Unipetrol says that motorfuel production will remain broadly unaffected.
Our view: We see the news as slightly positive. On Friday many was afraid of the unexpected full shutdown of the Litvinov refinery, which could lower production volumes for 4Q06. Now Unipetrol says that gasoline production will remain broadly unaffected, and only Diesel will suffer a bit. Despite Diesel margins are currently higher than gasoline margins, we see only a moderate P&L impact of the news.