Thomas Behrends
Thomas Behrends has been Managing Director of the TotalEnergies Raffinerie Mitteldeutschland in Leuna since May 2021. Prior to this role, he held various leadership positions within the TotalEnergies Group at its sites in Leuna (Germany), Antwerp (Belgium), and Lindsey (United Kingdom). He brings many years of international experience in the refining industry as well as in transformation and decarbonization projects.
A key focus of his current role is the decarbonization of the Leuna refinery and the associated reduction of CO₂ emissions. Hydrogen plays a crucial role in this effort: the refinery requires large volumes of hydrogen for fuel production and methanol manufacturing. Under Thomas Behrends’ leadership, the site is consistently pursuing the goal of gradually replacing fossil-based hydrogen with renewable hydrogen, thereby significantly reducing CO₂ emissions.
The Leuna refinery is already one of Germany’s largest and earliest off-takers of green hydrogen. Through its connection to the national hydrogen core network, its role as the first anchor customer of the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park, and its planned procurement of renewable hydrogen from RWE’s Lingen site on an industrial scale, TotalEnergies Refinery Mitteldeutschland is making an important contribution to the development of a robust hydrogen economy.
