Oil refinery in Gdansk, Poland
Hydrocarbon Processing Refining Databook 2025: Europe, Russia & CIS
EU net-zero polices have shifted refining investment among member states, while across the region countries and companies continue to adjust to changes in trade flows caused by the war in Ukraine
Western Europe has enacted several different policies focusing on net-zero ambitions that have resulted in a negative effect on future transport fuels demand. From 2022–23, the region’s refiners saw increased margins due to a rise in throughputs as Western Europe shifted away from refined product imports from Russia—a direct effect of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, the region’s refining margins have declined over the past year, shifting the focus from increased fuels production to talks of widespread capacity closures, with six European refineries having shut operations since 2020. For example, the IEA forecast that 1–1.5m b/d of European refining capacity could close by 2030.
Also in this section
8 January 2026
Indonesia and Malaysia are at the dawn of breathtaking digital capabilities. Their energy infrastructure must keep up with their ambitions
8 January 2026
The next five years will be critical for the North Sea, and it will be policy not geology that will decide the basin’s future
8 January 2026
The region’s access to versatile feedstock, combined with policy support, is setting it up to meet growing demand both at home and abroad
7 January 2026
No longer can the energy source be considered a sidekick to oil in the Middle East and neither should it step aside for less convincing alternatives
