PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the administrators of the Coryton refinery, Essex, UK, have stated that approximately 180 staff will lose their jobs in a wave of redundancies starting after June 22nd. A further wave of job losses is likely to be announced in July.
The search for a buyer for the complex, which fell into trouble after its Swiss-based parent company collapsed earlier in the year, has so far been fruitless. According to PwC, the most likely scenario at this stage is for the refinery to be converted into a storage terminal.
A number of buyers, including Vopak, Royal Dutch Shell and Greenergy, are interested in purchasing Coryton to this end. However, such a move would mean that the majority of the refinery’s 900 staff would lose their jobs.
Adapted from press release by Joe Hester.