Curacao oil refinery resumes work after eight-month stoppage
(Reuters) - Curacao’s 335,000-barrel-per-day (
Isla, which has been looking for a new operator to run the refinery beginning at the end of this year, restarted one of its crude distillation units and its thermal cracker, it said in a statement.
“Both units are producing
The plant suffered a fire early last year and fell idle after ConocoPhillips brought legal actions against PDVSA over a $2-billion arbitration award linked to the nationalization of Conoco’s projects in Venezuela. The U.S. company got court orders temporarily seizing PDVSA’s cargoes and terminals across the Caribbean.
The parties reached a payment agreement in August. Conoco said seized assets would be released following the reception of the first installment, which was received in the fourth quarter.
The long paralysis of the island facility, which is crucial for PDVSA’s crude blending, storage and shipping operations, spurred the government of the Caribbean island, which owns the refinery, to start a process to choose a new operator.
Isla’s management said the restart process took longer than expected due to its lengthy paralysis. The utility company providing power and other industrial services to the refinery also struggled to resume supply.
Isla declined to comment on the status of the bidding process.
Reporting by Sailu Urribarri; editing by Marianna Parraga and Tom Brown
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