Entity

Petroineos Manufacturing France SAS is the French operating entity responsible for running the Lavéra oil refinery in Martigues, Bouches-du-Rhône, southern France. It is a subsidiary within the Petroineos joint venture between INEOS and PetroChina International London (PCIL), and was created in 2012 when INEOS and PetroChina formalised their refining partnership at Lavéra.

Corporate History

The legal predecessor entity was INEOS Manufacturing France SAS, created when INEOS acquired all refining and chemical assets at Lavéra from BP in December 2005. In 2011, INEOS established a partnership with PetroChina to manage the trading and refining activities at Lavéra and Grangemouth, and this led to the creation of Petroineos Manufacturing France SAS in 2012 as the dedicated operational entity for the French refinery.

Operations

Petroineos Manufacturing France SAS operates the Lavéra refinery, the largest refinery in southern France and one of the largest in Southern Europe, with a crude oil processing capacity of 210,000 bbl/day (~10 million tonnes per annum). The refinery produces a full slate of refined products including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, fuel oil, and naphtha, the latter being directly piped to the adjacent Naphtachimie steam cracker. The entity also operates the Gexaro benzene extraction unit on behalf of INEOS.

Workforce

The refinery employs approximately 650 people in manufacturing, maintenance, process engineering, industrial automation and IT, HSE, procurement, and logistics. The site runs internship and apprenticeship programmes for operators, technicians, and engineers.

Logistics

The refinery benefits from a broad multimodal logistics infrastructure:

• Sea — Lavéra jetties accommodate vessels of 300,000–500,000 DWT for crude import and product export
• Pipeline — SPMR and NATO pipelines connect into France, Switzerland, and southern Germany
• Rail and road — direct connections for domestic product distribution
• River — Rhône river barge access

HSE and Social

For the year 2025, the "UES INEOS Lavera" social and economic performance index scored 87 out of 100 points, noted as an improving result within its industrial context. The site is classified as a Seveso III High Threshold installation and holds the standard ISO certification suite (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 50001) shared across the broader Lavéra platform.