Parramatta. Shell closure 'in weeks'

The boards of Shell Australia and Shell Refining Australia are expected to make a call on whether to close the Clyde refinery ''in weeks not months''. If the decision is to close Clyde, the facility would become an import terminal., with a likely reduction in the workforce from 310 to 30 to 50 employees. The company said it would try to redeploy other workers in either its upstream business or at the Geelong refinery. Shell says it will replace output from the Clyde refinery, which supplies about 40 per cent of the fuel needs in NSW. with imports from Asia. Shell says the refinery requires significant investment, including a maintenance turnaround scheduled for mid-2013. If the proposal is approved, the turnaround will not go ahead and the refinery will be converted into a fuel import terminal by mid-2013. The refinery has been owned by Shell since 1928.