Spanish oil company Repsol YPF SA (REP) is halting operations at its 100,000 barrels-a-day capacity Cartagena refinery in order to "protect the margins of the business," the company's Downstream Director Pedro Fernandez Frial said Thursday.
"The global crisis is forcing the entire sector to react and we have adopted a measure to protect our business and our economic results," Fernandez Frial said in a statement sent to Dow Jones Newswires.
Repsol Wednesday had said it was ramping down operations at the Southern Spanish refinery, and will halt work there for an unspecified length of time due to tight refining margins.
The Cartagena refinery will resume normal operations as soon as margins have recovered, the company director said Thursday.
After plunging Wednesday, Repsol shares rose 0.4% to EUR14.12 at 0739 GMT Thursday, while the IBEX-35 index rose 0.25%.