Recently, Total said that it will invest 150 million euros (about 168 million US dollars) to expand the German Leuna refinery, where methanol production capacity will increase by 20%. Due to the declining demand for heavy oil products, the project will also reduce the production of heavy oil in the refinery.

It is reported that the project transformation will continue until the end of 2021, and a large part of it will be carried out during the overhaul of the refinery in 2020. Total has a production capacity of 660,000 tons/year of methanol at the Leuna refinery, using heavy oil as raw material. The refinery can also produce 180,000 tons/year of refinery grade propylene and 70,000 tons/year of pure benzene. The head of the refinery said that the implementation of the project will help the refinery and the petrochemical industry to integrate, thus improving the competitiveness of the Leuna refinery. Total currently accounts for 22% of methanol production in North West Europe