The Mongstad refinery. Photo: Espen Rønnevik & Roar Lindefjeld, Woldcam for Equinor

Mongstad refinery

Mongstad in brief

The Mongstad refinery is Norway’s only refinery and produces fuel for the Norwegian, European and global markets.

Since operations began in 1975, the facility has undergone significant expansions and upgrades. Today, the refinery’s production capacity exceeds 1.5 times Norway’s total annual fuel demand.

Crude oil and wet gas arrive at Mongstad via pipelines and ships around the clock. These raw materials are processed into a wide range of finished products, essential for society’s infrastructure and other industries.

About 40 percent of the oil from the Norwegian continental shelf is delivered to Mongstad. Oil from fields such as Johan Sverdrup, Troll B and Troll C arrives via pipelines, while additional feedstock is delivered by ship.

The port at Mongstad is the second largest in northern Europe by tonnage, handling more than 1,500 ships annually. These vessels deliver raw materials to the refinery and load refined products and crude oil for export.

Mongstad is one of Norway’s largest and most complex industrial facilities, with integrated processing plants for refining, storage, transport and further processing.

The refinery at Mongstad is located about 60 km north of Bergen on the west coast of Norway.

Did you know...?

The Mongstad refinery area consists of three companies: Equinor Mongstad refinery, Mongstad terminal and Vestprosess.
One of Norway’s largest supply bases is located in the Mongstad industrial park. The base handles much of the logistics for the Norwegian continental shelf, with thousands of ship calls each year and extensive activity related to loading, unloading and storage for offshore installations.
The port at the refinery is among Europe’s largest by tonnage, with around 1,500 ship calls annually.
The production area contains approximately 2,000 km of pipelines.
The refinery produces products such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, LPG, naphtha, gasoil, heavy fuel oil, sulphur and petroleum coke.
The products produced at Mongstad are central to transport, shipping, aviation, the petrochemical industry and aluminium production.
Increasing biofuel production is a key focus area for the refinery.
Equinor’s refinery operations have significant ripple effects for the region. The facility directly and indirectly employs thousands of people, provides contracts to local suppliers and contributes to value creation far beyond the refinery itself.

The Mongstad story

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Sustainable development and innovation

Equinor is working systematically to reduce the environmental impact of operations at Mongstad.

The facility has reduced CO₂ emissions by nearly 30% since 2015, mainly through energy efficiency measures, production adjustments and increased use of bio-based feedstock. Efforts to reduce flaring have yielded good results, and several technical upgrades and improvements in operating routines have been implemented to further cut emissions.

Focus on biofuels

A key initiative for the refinery is increased biofuel production. Since 2019, we have built significant expertise in this area, including research and testing of various bio-oils in collaboration with our research centre at Rotvoll in Trondheim.

Biofuel production involves replacing part of the fossil feedstock with bio-oils, and investments are being made in new solutions to increase the share of bio-based feedstock in production. This has a positive climate effect, both by reducing fossil CO₂ emissions from production and by lowering emissions for end users.

A view from Monstad refinery. Two people asceding a staircase on the side of a huge storage tank. The fjord and a ship in the background. — A view from the Mongstad refinery north of Bergen, Norway.
Photo: Ole Jørgen Bratland

In-depth information about Equinor’s operations at Mongstad

Equinor’s operations at Mongstad now include an oil refinery (Equinor Refining AS), an NGL processing plant (Vestprosess) and a crude oil terminal (MTDA).

Crude oil from fields such as Johan Sverdrup, Troll B and Troll C, Kristin and Gjøa arrives at the Mongstad terminal via three pipelines. A fourth pipeline transports wet gas and condensate from the onshore plants at Kollsnes and Sture.

Equinor’s facilities at Mongstad have around 950 permanent employees and about 65 apprentices. During normal operations, approximately 400 supplier staff are also engaged annually, mainly in maintenance, modification, catering, cleaning and security.

The refinery, Norway’s only, is medium-sized by European standards. Its gasoline refining capacity covers about four times Norway’s annual gasoline consumption and more than 1.5 times the country’s total fuel consumption.

Most of the refinery’s production consists of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Other products include LPG, naphtha, gasoil, heavy fuel oil and sulphur. Petroleum coke is also produced here, used to make anodes for the aluminium industry.

Mongstad terminal (MTDA)

MTDA Mongstad terminal (Mongstad terminal DA, MTDA) plays an important role in Norway’s crude oil exports. Around 40 percent of all oil produced by Equinor on the Norwegian shelf, including the state’s share, is stored here before being exported to customers in North America, Europe and Asia.

The Mongstad terminal receives most of its oil via pipelines from Johan Sverdrup, Troll B and Troll C, Kristin, Gjøa, Vega and other connected oil fields. The storage capacity in the underground caverns is 9.44 million barrels. MTDA is owned by Equinor (65%) and the Norwegian state (35%), with Equinor as the operator.

The petroleum product NGL (natural gas liquids) is transported to Mongstad from Kollsnes via Sture. NGL is split into naphtha, propane and butane at the Vestprosess plant. Vestprosess is owned by the state (41%), Equinor (34%), North Sea Infrastructure AS (23%) and ConocoPhillips (2%).