April 16 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, Europe’s second-largest oil company, is slowing production at some of its refineries, joining Repsol YPF SA and Total SA in curbing output as the recession lowers fuel consumption.

“We’ve trimmed runs in some refineries and brought forward some maintenance in one or two places to take advantage of the timing” of weaker second-quarter demand, Iain Conn, BP’s head of refining and marketing, said in an interview in London today.

Refining margins will remain “challenging” this year because of lower demand, he said. Profits for refiners turning a barrel of crude into fuels averaged $4.60 between April 1 and April 8, about half that of the second quarter 2008, according to data on BP’s Web site.

Repsol will idle its 100,000 barrel-a-day Cartagena plant in Spain in the coming days because of weak margins, the company said yesterday. Total, Europe’s third-largest oil company, said three weeks ago it is cutting output at its Port Arthur, Texas, refinery in response to weakening demand.

The International Energy Agency last week slashed its forecast for oil demand to the lowest since 2004, predicting a 2.8 percent contraction this year to 83.4 million barrels a day as the economic slowdown worsens. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries also reduced its world demand forecast yesterday, estimating a 1.6 percent decline for 2009.

No Golden Age

London-based BP owns, or has a stake in, 17 refineries around the world, including plants in Rotterdam and Texas City, Texas.

“I am not a gloom and doom merchant because the world needs refining and needs refining to be economic,” Conn said. “What I have never believed in is the golden age of refining people were forecasting three, four years ago.”

Conn spoke while attending BP’s annual shareholders meeting today.

Petroplus Holdings AG, Europe’s largest independent refiner by capacity, said on Feb. 5 it plans to run refineries 24 percent below capacity this year because of falling demand for fuel.

In January, ConocoPhillips said it expected “continued economic run reductions” at its Wilhelmshaven refinery in Germany during the first quarter, and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, also said some of its plants would operate at reduced rates.

Cartagena Plant

Repsol’s Cartagena facility will stay shut until margins improve. In the meantime the Madrid-based company will run its other refineries at full capacity to compensate for Cartagena and maintain deliveries, Repsol Downstream Director Pedro Fernandez Frial said earlier today in a statement.

BP’s Conn said that while it remains difficult to predict oil prices, it is “perfectly reasonable to assume that we will see moderate oil prices we see today for some time.”

“A lot depends on whether demand starts to pick up and how much discipline OPEC has” at reducing supply, he said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Fred Pals in London at fpals@bloomberg.netNidaa Bakhsh in London at nbakhsh@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 16, 2009 12:58 EDT