Australia refinery may shut on carbon scheme -paper

SYDNEY, July 9 (Reuters) - One of Australia's biggest oil refineries may be forced to close after the government introduces a carbon-emissions trading scheme, refinery operator ExxonMobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

The government's climate-change adviser, Ross Garnaut, urged Australia last week to adopt a broad-based regime whereby tough curbs would be placed on greenhouse gas emissions from 2010, with cleaner businesses able to sell emission credits to dirtier ones.

ExxonMobil believes its Altona refinery, which employs 350 people and supplies half of Victoria state's fuel needs, could become unviable under the proposed regime because overseas rivals do not have to pay to emit greenhouse gases.

"If you put a carbon price on Australian petroleum refining we'd find it very difficult, if not impossible, to recoup any of those costs because the price of petroleum products in Australia reflects the regional market," ExxonMobil Australia chairman Mark Nolan was quoted saying in the Herald Sun newspaper.

The 130,000 barrels-per-day Altona refinery represents 16 percent of Australia's total refining capacity.

Garnaut's report said the energy and transport sectors should be included in the scheme, but big companies whose foreign rivals are free to pollute should be offered some compensation. (Reporting by James Thornhill, editing by Mark Bendeich)