Two refineries in Arendal – and why it matters which one you're going to

There are two oil refineries in Gothenburg. Both sit in Arendal on western Hisingen, 2.7 kilometres apart, and both get called "the refinery" in conversation. They belong to different companies, have different gates and — the point of this page — do not share a nearest residential area.

A crew that books accommodation for the wrong refinery spends several extra minutes in the car at every shift change, for the whole project.

Preemraff Göteborg

Preem's plant is at Raffinaderivägen 25, 418 79 Gothenburg, beside the Sörredsmotet junction. It came into operation in 1967 and has capacity to refine 6 million tonnes of crude oil a year.

It is a hydroskimming refinery with part of the plant converted to biorefining — Preem was the first in the world to produce diesel from crude tall oil, a by-product of the forestry industry. The plant is in operation around the clock and constantly monitored by staff.

St1 Refinery

St1's refinery is on Bensinvägen, just under three kilometres east of Preem and closer to the energy port. It has a processing capacity of 30 million barrels of crude a year and is described by the company as one of the world's most energy-efficient oil refineries.

Same industry, same district, different address and a different employer.

Which one are you actually going to?

This is the question to settle before booking anything. The drive times below are routed to each refinery's own coordinates — not to the middle of Arendal, which would have given the wrong answer for both gates.

Read the Östra Biskopsgården row again. Three minutes to St1 and seven to Preemraff — more than double the journey depending on which gate the crew reports to. And Torslanda, the closest residential area to Preemraff of them all, is further from St1 than Östra Biskopsgården is from either.

That is why "which refinery?" is not a pedantic question. It is the difference between three minutes and nine, twice a day, for ten weeks.

Turnarounds: when everyone arrives at once

A refinery stops every few years for maintenance, and the site fills with contractors. Preem's shutdown at the Lysekil refinery — the company's other and larger plant — took on around 2,500 contractors. The Gothenburg refinery is smaller, but the pattern is the same: welders, scaffolders, insulators and fitters arriving inside the same couple of weeks.

When it happens, the whole of western Hisingen is let. That is not an exaggeration but what it actually looks like — and it applies to both refineries, because they share a catchment for housing.

Practically that means two things. Book early — weeks, preferably months. And ask about round-the-clock access, because shutdown work runs in shifts and nobody should have to phone an on-call number to get in at four in the morning.

Nobody lives in Arendal

Worth saying plainly: Arendal is a workplace, not a residential district. There is essentially no housing there. Everyone who works there commutes in, and the accommodation is somewhere else.

We place crews in Torslanda, Biskopsgården, Kyrkbyn or Björlanda depending on which gate you report to. Parking is included at most of our properties on western Hisingen, which here is a requirement rather than a convenience — most people working in Arendal drive their own or a company vehicle.

Getting there without a car

For an industrial estate, Arendal has unusually good bus service:

• Bus 128 — Arendal–Hjalmar Brantingsplatsen
• Bus 32 — Sörredsmotet–Arendal–Eketrägatan
• Bus 27 — Eketrägatan–Volvo Torslanda–Sörredsmotet
• Bus 184 — Marklandsgatan–Kungssten–Arendal
• Bus 148 — Amhult–Arendal–Volvo–Angered

Frequency follows the shift changes. Check current times on vasttrafik.se.

What the accommodation costs

From 159 SEK per bed per night. We price per bed and month, and furnishing, electricity, heating, water, wifi, bed linen, a washing machine and the final clean are all inside that figure. Nothing is added afterwards.

We never let to private individuals — companies and organisations only.

Tell us which refinery and we'll tell you where

Call or message with which of the two plants you are going to, how many people and which weeks. You get concrete options within four hours, any day of the week.

Don't know which one it is? Give us the address. Raffinaderivägen is Preem, Bensinvägen is St1 — we work out the rest.

Source: Räddningstjänsten Storgöteborg: Preem raffinaderi (Seveso) · St1: Raffinaderiet i Göteborg

• Arendal
• Preemraff
• St1
• turnaround
• corporate housing