Reuters: Mergers News: UPDATE 1-Extension sought for Petroplus Swiss plant's debt

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UPDATE 1-Extension sought for Petroplus Swiss plant's debt Mar 27th 2012, 11:57 Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:57am EDT * Deadline for plant offers was Monday * Not stated whether any bids were submitted * SOCAR, Fund Energy seen as potential buyers GENEVA, March 27 (Reuters) - The administrator of insolvent refiner Petroplus has applied to a Swiss court for a six-month extension of a debt moratorium for the Cressier refinery. Switzerland's 68,000 barrel per day Cressier plant, one of just two refineries in the landlocked country, is up for sale and the deadline for offers was Monday. The court had previously given the plant a two months' grace period of protection from its creditors pending offers for its purchase. The administrator, Wenger-Plattner, said in a statement it had made the application for the extension. The law firm was not immediately available for further comment on Wednesday and it was unclear if bids had been submitted for the plant. The economy ministry for the Swiss canton of Neuchatel has said the plant has attracted wide interest but declined to comment on interested parties, adding only that there are "probably several offers". In the last published Petroplus financial results, in the third quarter of last year, Cressier was its least profitable plant and it is seen by industry sources as a difficult sell because of its relatively small size. Petroplus, Europe's largest refiner by capacity, filed for insolvency in January after it defaulted on $1.75 billion of debt. Azeri state oil firm SOCAR was seen as a potential buyer for Cressier after its purchase of ExxonMobil's Swiss fuel supply business late last year. A former Russian energy minister was planning to use an investment vehicle, Fund Energy, to bid for all three remaining Petroplus plants, a source close to the matter said last week. Earlier this month, Swiss-based trader Gunvor, co-owned by Russian tycoon Gennady Timchenko, said it was buying a Petroplus refinery in Antwerp in Belgium, in a move to expand its infrastructure footprint in Europe's largest oil trading hub. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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