Mergers: Commission approves acquisition of Shell’s Harburg refinery assets by Nynas AB of Sweden

The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of certain refinery assets of Shell Deutschland Oil GmbH located in Hamburg/Harburg (Germany) by Nynas AB of Sweden. The Commission’s in-depth investigation showed that a closure of the Harburg refinery assets is the most likely scenario in the absence of the proposed transaction. This would significantly reduce the production capacity in the European Economic Area (EEA) market for naphthenic base and process oils, which are used in a variety of products (e.g. industrial rubber, adhesives, fertilisers), and for transformer oils ('TFO'), which are used to insulate power transformers. The closure would lead to higher prices for European consumers.