Photo: Scholven Refinery | Source: BP Germany (Sep 6, 2024)

Market Insights | ppPLUS Intelligence Series • Refining & Petrochemicals | June 2026

On 19 March 2026, BP announced it had signed a definitive agreement to sell its Gelsenkirchen refinery business — operated through Ruhr Oel GmbH – BP Gelsenkirchen (ROG) — to the independent European refiner Klesch Group. The transaction is part of BP's wider strategic reset aimed at divesting up to $20 billion in assets by 2027 to reduce debt and sharpen its portfolio focus.

What Is Being Sold

The transaction encompasses the full Gelsenkirchen complex: the two processing sites at Horst and Scholven, the Bottrop tank farm, the solvent chemicals subsidiary DHC Solvent Chemie GmbH in Mülheim an der Ruhr, and associated product offtake agreements between buyer and seller. The complex processes approximately 12 million tonnes of crude oil per year (~265,000 bbl/day), producing predominantly automotive and aviation fuels, and is one of the largest integrated refinery and petrochemical complexes in Europe.

BP Gelsenkirschen map showing the location of the two integrated refining and petrochemical plants in
Horst (middle right) and Scholven (top), as well as a tank farm in Bottrop (bottom left)  

Strategic Rationale for BP

The divestiture allows BP to eliminate roughly $1 billion in annual operating base costs previously attributable to the Gelsenkirchen site. Announcing the deal, BP simultaneously raised its structural cost reduction target for 2027 to $6.5–7.5 billion, up from prior guidance. The sale had effectively been flagged a year earlier when BP announced in March 2024 that it would close one-third of the site's crude distillation capacity and reposition the remaining capacity towards lower-emission fuels — a restructuring that ultimately could not restore the site's competitiveness within BP's portfolio. Barclays analyst Lydia Rainforth estimated the assumed liabilities transferred to Klesch at approximately $1.3–1.7 billion.

Klesch's Perspective

For Klesch Group, the acquisition represents a major expansion of its European refining platform. Klesch already operates the Heide Refinery in Hemmingstedt, Germany, and the Kalundborg Refinery in Denmark, and has built a reputation for acquiring and revitalising complex industrial assets. The Gelsenkirchen complex would nearly double its European crude processing capacity.

Employees and Workforce

Approximately 1,800 employees at the Horst and Scholven sites, plus around 80 employees at DHC Solvent Chemie, are expected to transfer to Klesch upon close. The City of Gelsenkirchen publicly acknowledged the transaction as a significant industrial ownership change and called for clear long-term commitments from the new owner for the region.

Regulatory Process and Timeline

The deal was signed subject to customary regulatory approvals. On 25 May 2026, the European Commission granted competition clearance, removing the key remaining regulatory condition and confirming that the transaction does not raise competition concerns in the European refining market. The formal closing of the transaction is now expected in H2 2026. Legal advice to BP was provided by Linklaters and to Klesch by Clifford Chance. The purchase price has not been disclosed by either party.

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