Petroplus news

Approximately a week ago, Petroplus put its French Petit-Couronne refinery on the market and announced the possibility of putting its Belgium and Switzerland facilities on the market also. The company also announced that it had to more than halve outputs at two facilities and reduce production at the three others, including the Coryton refinery and Ingolstadt facility in Germany.

Petroplus continued attempts to avoid bankruptcy by stopping fuel deliveries from its UK Coryton plant. This was on 23^rd January. Also, on that day, the Switzerland based company asked for all of its shares to be suspended on the Swiss stock exchange.

On 24^th January it was reported that the French refinery had received several visits from technical parties interested in purchasing the plant.

Department of Energy & Climate Change

Energy Minister Charles Hendry, on the afternoon of 26^th January, chaired a meeting with a range of interested parties to discuss the future of the Coryton refinery. The meeting took place at the DECC in Central London.

Following the meeting, the Minister said: ‘We have had a positive meeting this afternoon where the administrator set out what has been done so far and the plan of action to secure the long term future of Coryton refinery. The administrator has worked hard to restore deliveries to customers so quickly and I am greatly encouraged by the overall collaborative approach being taken.’

‘Coryton has strong advantages as a refinery and is an important part of the UK’s refining infrastructure. All those at today’s meeting made clear that they were committed to doing all they can to ensure the future of the refinery.’

‘There was agreement that the best way to secure the sustainable future of the plant is to maintain current operations and to find a buyer as quickly as possible. I made clear that the government will do all it can to support this process.’

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/30012012/petroplus_refinery/