Reuters: Mergers News: UPDATE 1-Petroplus UK refinery likely to close-PwC

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UPDATE 1-Petroplus UK refinery likely to close-PwC May 28th 2012, 14:28 Mon May 28, 2012 10:28am EDT LONDON May 28 (Reuters) - Insolvent Swiss refiner Petroplus' Coryton refinery in the UK is likely to close after its administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said on Monday that it had failed to find a buyer that could pay $1 billion for the site. Petroplus filed for insolvency in December after it could not meet its debt obligations. PwC said in an emailed statement it could not find "a solution which sees the refinery continue as a going concern". "The current economic environment, the challenge of raising $1 billion (£625 million) of funding for the refinery, including the $150 million capital expenditure 'turnaround' project ultimately proved prohibitive in the face of an over supplied European refinery market for both buyers and investors." The Coryton refinery has a capacity to process about 175,000 barrels of crude oil per day and additional 65,000 barrels per day of feedstock. Richard Howitt, the local member of the European Parliament said: "It's a bitter blow for the workforce...I think the process was flawed and that the government should have stepped in." PwC said "a substantial number of redundancies" were likely in the next few months if operations were wound down. The administrators suspended all work connected with the refinery turnaround programme in September, the administrator said. Coryton is more complex and profitable than other Petroplus refineries and most analysts expected it to survive as a refinery. However, so far two other refineries - Antwerp and Cressier - have been sold despite the odds that they would likely turn into oil terminals. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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