Raffinerie de Cressier
Cressier, Switzerland
Raffinerie de Cressier is an operating crude oil refinery in Cressier, Switzerland. It is operated by Varo Refining (Cressier) SA. Its published capacity is 72.5 kbpd, quoted in the unit the publisher used and not converted.
- Operator
- Varo Refining (Cressier) SA
- Commissioned
- 1966
Refinery recordVerified
Provenance
VerifiedHigh- Dataset id
- Fuel Origin curated refinery reference list (data/reference/refineries.csv)refineries.csvreference_refineries_v1
- Period
- not recorded
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-02 06:33 UTC
- Type
- Verified
- Transformation
- none applied - stored exactly as published
- Licence
- Per-row: each cell traces to the operator or regulator page named in the row.
- Capacity is quoted as published and never converted.
- Connections are infrastructure (CONNECTED_TO), not deliveries.
- Crude-import mix, refinery output and Hormuz exposure are national figures; this refinery's own feedstock is not published.
Switzerland is not an EU member state: its figures are never part of an EU total, share or ranking.
Owners and operator
Who owns and runs the site, as the cited sources state it. A share that was not published is shown as not published, never as 0%.
| Name | Role | Share | From | To | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Varo Refining (Cressier) SA | Operator | not published | not published | current | Verified |
| VAROPreem (100% owned) | Owner | not published | not published | current | Verified |
Ports and pipelines it is connected to
Infrastructure only. A connection means the berth or pipeline exists; it does not show that any crude or product was received through it.
Raffinerie de Cressier is connected to Fos-sur-Mer (port), Hafen Birsfelden (port), OJNSA (pipeline), SFPLJ (pipeline) and SPSE (pipeline). A connection means the berth or pipeline exists; it does not show that any crude or product was received through it. Verified
- connected to Fos-sur-Mer (Port) Verified HighFos-sur-Mer (crude arrives through the SPSE pipeline, no direct port)Evidence: raffineriedecressier.ch · raffineriedecressier.ch · sfplj-ojnsa.ch · sfplj-ojnsa.ch · sfplj-ojnsa.ch · www.spse.fr · www.spse.fr
- connected to Hafen Birsfelden (Port) Verified HighHafen Birsfelden (Rhine port; the operator writes 'port de Bâle-Birsfelden': products leave the refinery by rail, including for export)Evidence: raffineriedecressier.ch · raffineriedecressier.ch · sfplj-ojnsa.ch · sfplj-ojnsa.ch · sfplj-ojnsa.ch · www.spse.fr · www.spse.fr
- connected to OJNSA (Pipeline) Verified HighOJNSA (Oléoduc du Jura Neuchâtelois SA, crude, 33 km from the Swiss border at La Rançonnière, Les Brenets, to the refinery)Evidence: raffineriedecressier.ch · raffineriedecressier.ch · sfplj-ojnsa.ch · sfplj-ojnsa.ch · sfplj-ojnsa.ch · www.spse.fr · www.spse.fr
- connected to SFPLJ (Pipeline) Verified HighSFPLJ (Société Française du Pipeline du Jura, crude, 55 km from the Gennes depot to the Swiss border at Villers-le-Lac)Evidence: raffineriedecressier.ch · raffineriedecressier.ch · sfplj-ojnsa.ch · sfplj-ojnsa.ch · sfplj-ojnsa.ch · www.spse.fr · www.spse.fr
- connected to SPSE (Pipeline) Verified HighSPSE (Société du Pipeline Sud-Européen, 34-inch crude line Fos-sur-Mer to Gennes)Evidence: raffineriedecressier.ch · raffineriedecressier.ch · sfplj-ojnsa.ch · sfplj-ojnsa.ch · sfplj-ojnsa.ch · www.spse.fr · www.spse.fr
What it runs on
Which crude this refinery processes is not published. Switzerland's crude-import mix is shown as national context - it is not this refinery's intake.
This refinery's crude intake by origin: UNKNOWN
Which crude oil Raffinerie de Cressier runs on is not published, so it is UNKNOWN. Refinery-level crude intake by origin is not public in most of Europe, and we do not allocate a national figure across refineries.
Unknown
National · SwitzerlandNational context — not this refinery's own figure
Raffinerie de Cressier is the only operating crude oil refinery we hold for Switzerland, so the national crude-import figure is the closest public evidence of what it runs on. In August 2026, Switzerland's crude imports came mainly from the United States of America (68%) and Nigeria (28%). This is an inference, not a reported intake: crude produced in Switzerland itself, stock changes and re-exports are not separated out in the import figures.
Does the national figure describe this refinery?Inferred · mediumMediumOnly as an inference: it is the country's only operating crude refinery we hold.
| Producing country | Tonnes | Share | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States of America | 149,848 | 68% | Calculated |
| Nigeria | 61,470 | 28% | Calculated |
| Kazakhstan | 9,749 | 4% | Calculated |
| Month | United States of America | Nigeria | Kazakhstan | Azerbaijan | Israel | All other origins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-09 | 64% | 36% | less than 1% | - | - | 0% |
| 2025-10 | 58% | 36% | - | - | 6% | 0% |
| 2025-11 | 41% | 22% | 3% | 24% | 10% | 0% |
| 2025-12 | 41% | 21% | 6% | 21% | 10% | 0% |
| 2026-01 | 60% | 30% | 6% | 2% | 2% | 0% |
| 2026-02 | 66% | 26% | 8% | - | - | 0% |
| 2026-03 | 60% | 32% | 1% | - | 2% | 5% |
| 2026-04 | 72% | 24% | 3% | - | 1% | less than 1% |
| 2026-05 | 54% | 32% | 14% | - | - | 0% |
| 2026-06 | 66% | 23% | 11% | - | - | 0% |
| 2026-07 | 61% | 31% | 8% | - | - | 0% |
| 2026-08 | 68% | 28% | 4% | - | - | 0% |
"-" means the origin was not reported that month. A PARTIAL month does not add up to 100% because part of the volume was not attributed.
Source: Federal Office for Customs and Border Security FOCBS, “Waren: Aussenhandel nach Tarifnummer / Land”, https://www.bazg.admin.ch/de/schweizerische-aussenhandelsstatistik-datenbank-opendata (retrieved 2 October 2026).
Figures from Federal Office for Customs and Border Security FOCBS are shown as published. Shares, sums, tonnes and euro values are our own calculation (Fuel Origin), not figures from Federal Office for Customs and Border Security FOCBS. Method: tonnes = kilograms divided by one thousand; euros = Swiss francs divided by the month's mean ECB euro reference rate; a share = one partner's tonnes divided by the sum of every row published for the month. How this figure is made
Provisional: January 2026, February 2026, March 2026, April 2026, May 2026, June 2026, July 2026, August 2026. These months are subject to change until the annual closing in June (Federal Office for Customs and Border Security FOCBS).
Partner = country of origin as recorded by the customs declarations; goods from EU countries may be declared by country of dispatch when their origin is not known.
Refinery output in Switzerland (national)
What all refineries in Switzerland produced together, as published. This refinery's own output is not published and the national total is not divided between refineries.
National · SwitzerlandNational context — not this refinery's own figure
We hold no refinery output figures for Switzerland. Raffinerie de Cressier's own output is not published either. Unknown
Outages and maintenance
Planned and unplanned shutdowns we can cite. There is no public register for EU refineries, so an empty list is not a clean record.
We hold no outage register for this refinery; none has been checked for its country yet.
No outage or maintenance is recorded for Raffinerie de Cressier. We hold no outage register for this refinery; none has been checked for its country yet. This is a missing record, not a statement that the refinery ran without interruption.
Strait of Hormuz: Switzerland's direct crude exposure (national)
The share of the country's crude imports that came from origins loading inside the Persian Gulf. Measured per country, never per refinery.
National · SwitzerlandNational context — not this refinery's own figure
National figure, not specific to this refinery: Switzerland imported no crude oil from origins that load inside the Persian Gulf during August 2026. Every contributing origin has a single export route outside the Gulf, so the share is 0% by geography, not by estimate. The range describes the country's crude imports; which of them reached Raffinerie de Cressier is not published. Calculated
Source: Federal Office for Customs and Border Security FOCBS, “Waren: Aussenhandel nach Tarifnummer / Land”, https://www.bazg.admin.ch/de/schweizerische-aussenhandelsstatistik-datenbank-opendata (retrieved 2 October 2026).
Figures from Federal Office for Customs and Border Security FOCBS are shown as published. Shares, sums, tonnes and euro values are our own calculation (Fuel Origin), not figures from Federal Office for Customs and Border Security FOCBS. How this figure is made
Provisional: August 2026. These months are subject to change until the annual closing in June (Federal Office for Customs and Border Security FOCBS).
Sources used on this page
- https://www.varopreem.com/en/business/manufacturing-hubs/- Capacity; Site record
- https://raffineriedecressier.ch/- Status; Connection: Fos-sur-Mer; Connection: Hafen Birsfelden; Connection: OJNSA; Connection: SFPLJ; Connection: SPSE
- https://www.zefix.admin.ch/en/search/entity/list/firm/1058312- Source notes
- https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/4217587- Source notes
- https://industry.eea.europa.eu/- Source notes
- https://raffineriedecressier.ch/notre-activite/approvisionnement-par-pipeline/- Connection: Fos-sur-Mer; Connection: Hafen Birsfelden; Connection: OJNSA; Connection: SFPLJ; Connection: SPSE
- https://sfplj-ojnsa.ch/- Connection: Fos-sur-Mer; Connection: Hafen Birsfelden; Connection: OJNSA; Connection: SFPLJ; Connection: SPSE
- https://sfplj-ojnsa.ch/sfplj-france/- Connection: Fos-sur-Mer; Connection: Hafen Birsfelden; Connection: OJNSA; Connection: SFPLJ; Connection: SPSE
- https://sfplj-ojnsa.ch/ojnsa-suisse/- Connection: Fos-sur-Mer; Connection: Hafen Birsfelden; Connection: OJNSA; Connection: SFPLJ; Connection: SPSE
- https://www.spse.fr/fr/presentation-reseau-direction-actionnaires.php- Connection: Fos-sur-Mer; Connection: Hafen Birsfelden; Connection: OJNSA; Connection: SFPLJ; Connection: SPSE
- https://www.spse.fr/fr/transport-et-stockage-hydrocarbures.php- Connection: Fos-sur-Mer; Connection: Hafen Birsfelden; Connection: OJNSA; Connection: SFPLJ; Connection: SPSE
- https://fuelorigin.org/methodology/reference-data#refineries- How the refinery list was compiled
- https://www.bazg.admin.ch/de/schweizerische-aussenhandelsstatistik-datenbank-opendata- National crude imports; National crude imports (methodology); National Hormuz exposure; National Hormuz exposure (methodology)
Source notes for this refinery (verbatim)
Switzerland is not an EU member: this row must never enter an EU refinery total. Operator page (VAROPreem manufacturing hubs, opened 2026-10-01) states 'Cressier is Switzerland's only conventional fuel manufacturing facility. It supplies approximately 30% of the national fuel market and is critical infrastructure for national supply.', '72.5 kbd total capacity', '100% owned', 'Opened in 1966'. The 72.5 kbd is labelled 'total capacity' and the page does not say it is crude distillation capacity; the page gives no date for the figure, so capacity_source_date is empty. The site's own page (raffineriedecressier.ch, opened 2026-10-01) states 'Appartient à 100% VARO', 'Année de construction: 1966', about 280 employees, and that the refinery turned 60 in 2026; its 'Capacité de raffinage' counter shows the unit 'Barils / Jour' but no number in the served page, so nothing is taken from it. The same page announces 'VARO Energy et Preem fusionnent pour former VAROPreem' (press release of 16.1.2026). The shareholders of VAROPreem itself are not stated on the opened pages and are not recorded. Operator legal name from the Swiss commercial register (Zefix, UID CHE-134.730.663, status EXISTIEREND, legal seat Cressier (NE), queried 2026-10-01): https://www.zefix.admin.ch/en/search/entity/list/firm/1058312 . Crude supply: 'Le pétrole brut arrive par l’oléoduc SPSE depuis le terminal maritime de Fos-sur-Mer' and 'Une ligne indépendante nous approvisionne à partir de Gennes, dans la région de Besançon' (raffineriedecressier.ch). SPSE: its only operational line (34 inch) links the Fos-sur-Mer depot to the depots of St-Quentin-Fallavier and Gennes, 'alimentant en pétrole brut les raffineries de Feyzin (Rhône) et de Cressier (Suisse)'; the Besançon terminal 'alimente le dépôt du pipeline du Jura connecté à la raffinerie de Cressier'. sfplj-ojnsa.ch: SFPLJ (Société Française du Pipeline du Jura) owns the 55 km section from the Gennes depot to the Swiss border (commune of Villers-le-Lac) and is owned by VARO Refining Cressier SA; OJNSA (Oléoduc du Jura Neuchâtelois SA) owns the 33 km section from the border at La Rançonnière (commune Les Brenets) to the refinery and is owned 80% by VARO Refining Cressier SA and 20% by Groupe E; 88 km in total. Dispatch: 'Nos produits quittent la raffinerie par rail, pour approvisionner nos dépôts, nos clients, voire pour l’exportation en direction du port de Bâle-Birsfelden. Des camions-citernes s'approvisionnent aussi directement a la raffinerie.' The Birsfelden link is a rail dispatch route named by the operator, not a pipeline. Hormuz: the export-point row 'Varo Cressier refinery (inland site, no seaborne loading point)' in hormuz_route_classification_v1.csv classifies the site DOES_NOT_REQUIRE_HORMUZ. Coordinates are OpenStreetMap-derived: they are the Nominatim centroid of OSM relation 4217587 'Varo Refining (Cressier) SA' (landuse=industrial, industrial=refinery), https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/4217587 - looked up 2026-10-01, when a Nominatim lookup of that relation returned exactly 47.0391289, 7.0370630 (the same point as the export-point row in infrastructure_geo_v1.csv) - not operator-published. Cross-check against the EEA Industrial Emissions Portal (https://industry.eea.europa.eu/, E-PRTR activity 1(a), facility reported by Switzerland, namespace CH.CAED id 11, queried via the EEA DiscoData SQL API 2026-10-01): 'Varo Refining Cressier SA / Raffinerie de Cressier', Route de la Raffinerie 21, 2088 Cressier, status functional, reporting year 2023, at 47.04, 7.0358 - about 140 m WNW of the stored point and INSIDE the OSM site outline (Overpass is_in, 2026-10-01). The stored OSM coordinate is kept; the EEA point is recorded here as a cross-check.
Record reference_refineries_v1 / varo-cressier, retrieved 2026-09-21 00:00 UTC, payload hash e521f468249e.
How to read the labels
- OfficialReported directly by an official authority.
- VerifiedReported by a third party we have verified against a primary record.
- CalculatedComputed by us from reported inputs. The method is published on the methodology page.
- Inferred · highNot reported. Inferred from at least two independent physical records.
- Inferred · mediumNot reported. Inferred from strong indirect evidence, with no explicit confirmation.
- Inferred · lowNot reported. Plausible from infrastructure or movement data only. Do not read as fact.
- UnknownNo defensible public evidence establishes this. We are not guessing, and this is not a measurement of zero.