Shell refineries to shut for maintenance in Q1

LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it expected a drop in throughput at its refineries in the first quarter as planned maintenance is undertaken.

"Q1 is our heaviest turnaround period of the year, and we have planned outages at Deer Park, Convent and Pernis plus downtime at Clyde," Chief Financial Officer Peter Voser said on a call with analysts.

"We expect Q1 availability to be some 85-90 percent, broadly similar to year-ago levels."

Shell said in a statement that its average refinery availability was 94 percent in the fourth quarter.

The Motiva Convent refinery in Louisiana has a capacity of 235,000 barrels per day of crude throughput, according to Shell's website.

(Reporting by Tom Bergin)