Caltex Australia to close 124,500 bpd Kurnell refinery

SYDNEY, July 26 (Reuters) - Oil refiner Caltex Australia announced on Thursday it will close its loss-making 124,500 barrel-per-day Kurnell oil refinery in Sydney after a year-long review.

Kurnell has around 430 employees and 300 contractors and will be cut to less than 100 once the plant is closed in the second half of 2014, Caltex said.

Combined production at the 57-year-old Kurnell refinery and the company's Lytton refinery in Brisbane is made up of about 50 percent petrol, 30 percent diesel and 15 percent jet fuel.

Caltex said its refinery business lost A$60 million ($61.6 million) in the March quarter and wrote down the value of its refinery assets by A$1.5 billion earlier this year.

Caltex also said it was cutting its dividend policy, from a current payout ratio of 40-60 percent to 20-40 percent and was looking at issuing hybrid securities.