Worley partners with Shell on decarbonisation projects in Germany

Engineering solutions provider Worley on September 10 announced its involvement in two key projects aimed at decarbonising Shell’s operations in Germany.

The Wesseling site – located in the Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland near Cologne – plans to stop processing crude oils in 2025. The first project focuses on converting the site’s hydrocracker into a base oil production unit for high-quality lubricants such as engine and transmission oils.

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The plant will have an annual production capacity of around 300,000 tonnes, accounting for roughly 9% of the EU's base oil demand and 40% of Germany's. By repurposing the hydrocracker and incorporating a high degree of electrification, the project is expected to cut Shell’s scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by approximately 620,000 tonnes per year. Worley will serve as the primary engineering partner, overseeing the assess, select, and define phases of the project, with operations based in Cologne and additional support from its Global Integrated Delivery team in Mumbai.

The second project involves enabling renewable hydrogen production at the Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland through the REFHYNE II initiative. This project will install a 100 MW electrolyzer capable of producing up to 44,000 kilograms of renewable hydrogen daily.

The hydrogen will be used to produce lower carbon intensity energy products, such as transport fuels, and to further decarbonise Shell’s operations. The electrolyzer will be modelled on the existing 10 MW REFHYNE I electrolyzer, which began operations in 2021. Worley has been responsible for the early front-end engineering and design (pre-FEED), FEED, and detailed design, as well as integrating the new system into the existing infrastructure. The project reached a final investment decision (FID) in July 2024.