Shell Rheinland Werk Wesseling Cologne Refinery — Germany

Shell Rheinland Werk Wesseling Cologne Refinery is a refinery in Germany. Its listed capacity is 339,000 BBL per day. Refineries heat, fractionate and chemically transform crude oil into fuels and petrochemical feedstocks through energy-intensive distillation and cracking — extremely demanding on steam generation and heat recovery. It is operated by Shell PLC. By capacity it ranks #1 among 12 oil refineries in Germany. It emits about 4,197,080 t CO₂e a year from Climate TRACE. That is 3.7% of the CO₂e from the 118 facilities in Germany that have an emissions figure in IndustryAtlas. Its CO₂ per unit of capacity is 44% above the national median for this sector.

Facility data: Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0), id ct-3143897.

In context: how this facility compares

At 339,000 BBL per day, Shell Rheinland Werk Wesseling Cologne Refinery is well above the median refinery in Germany (227,000 BBL per day). Subsector: oil-and-gas-refining. As refinery, it requires high process heat (typically 200–600°C) for its core industrial operations, supplied by boilers, furnaces or direct combustion. Refineries heat, fractionate and chemically transform crude oil into fuels and petrochemical feedstocks through energy-intensive distillation and cracking — extremely demanding on steam generation and heat recovery.

Capacity & CO₂-intensity comparison computed from Climate TRACE industrial facilities data; sector role based on engineering reference.

What 4,197,080 t CO₂e a year looks like

This facility's estimated annual CO₂e (Climate TRACE, modelled) in everyday equivalents from the US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculator:

Equivalencies: US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies. Emissions: Climate TRACE.

Capacity vs largest oil refineries in Germany

Listed capacity (BBL per day), Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0).

Operator

Operated by Shell PLC. All facilities by this operator →

Local climate

Shell Rheinland Werk Wesseling Cologne Refinery sits in a temperate oceanic climate zone (Köppen Cfb), at 50.9°N in the northern hemisphere.

Köppen zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).

Site climate & environmental severity

This site sits in a mild atmospheric environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C2 — Low), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.

In this site’s local climate, a bare 150 °C surface sheds about 1397 W/m² to ambient — roughly 1.07× the loss at a 20 °C reference. Reference-surface calculation at a 150 °C surface from WorldClim climate normals (ASTM C680 / ISO 12241) — an indicative per-climate comparison, not a measurement of this site’s specific equipment. Open method dataset: DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20787408 (CC BY 4.0).

Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.

How it compares & nearby sites

The #1 largest of 12 oil refineries in Germany by listed capacity (Climate TRACE).

Nearby industrial sites

• Shell & DEA Oil GMBH , Wesseling · Petrochemical · 388,702 t CO₂
• Basell Polyfine GMBH , Wesseling · Petrochemical · 1,527,827 t CO₂
• Kampffmeyer Mühlen Gmbh, Werk Ellmühle · Food & Beverage
• INEOS , Dormagen · Petrochemical · 1,696,769 t CO₂
• INEOS Nitriles Cologne · Chemical Plant · 785,810 t CO₂
• Pfeifer & Langen Gmbh & Co. Kg Werk Euskirchen · Food & Beverage · 122,876 t CO₂

Location

Coordinates 50.8608, 6.98656. View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions