(Adds details)
AMSTERDAM/LONDON, April 8 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell
said on Wednesday it would start large-scale
maintenance of its Pernis refinery in the Netherlands in
mid-April, more than two weeks earlier than previously planned.
The maintenance would mean the 404,000 barrel per day
refinery, Europe's largest, would be shut temporarily, it said.
The previous maintenance plan involved starting on May 4 and
was expected to last through May and June.
Shell said it would be taking precautionary measures during
the turnaround like working in small teams and keeping a safe
distance between workers to prevent the spread of the new
coronavirus.
It also said it had been able to almost halve the number of
employees on site.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer and Ahmad Ghaddar; Editing by Edmund
Blair and Mark Potter)