[Article] ConocoPhillips to sell Cork oil refinery

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/topstories/9740448?view=Eircomnet

ConocoPhillips to sell Cork oil refinery
From:ireland.com
Wednesday, 24th January, 2007

The world's fifth-largest oil company, ConocoPhillips, has decided to sell the Whitegate oil refinery in Cork, with the facility likely to be priced between €300 million and €380 million.

The refinery, which was bought as part of Irish National Petroleum for €117 million in 2001, is capable of processing 71,000 barrels of oil per day at peak.

Bids are likely from domestic and international players. Several large oil and gas companies are already exploring in Irish waters, including Shell and Exxon Mobil, which both have refining businesses.

ConocoPhillips is the second-largest refiner in the US and claims to have the fifth-largest reserves of oil in the world, excluding government-owned entities.

It intends to sell Whitegate as a going concern. The refinery currently supplies Irish and European markets. No reason was given for the decision to sell.

Refineries are a key chain in turning crude oil into petrol, kerosene and other related products. Most operate on a 24-hour basis and are usually located in large-scale industrial sites. In recent years some companies have used them to produce liquified natural gas.

ConocoPhillips intends to retain its interest in the Whiddy Island, Bantry Bay oil terminal, where crude oil first arrives into the area via tankers. It has the capacity to accept and store about 8.5 million barrels of oil, much of which comes from the North Sea.

The refinery is believed to be worth $400-$500 million (€307-€383 million), based on industry valuations.

The world is currently suffering from a shortage of oil-refining capacity. In the US no new oil refineries have been built for several decades. Instead of building new facilities, oil companies have tended to expand or rebuild existing ones. There are also major planning problems, with local communities often objecting to having a refinery placed nearby.

In 1999, the government decided to sell the Whitegate refinery, which was owned by Irish National Petroleum.

The corporation recommended to the then minister for public enterprise, Mary O'Rourke, that she accept an offer from the then Tosco Corporation, now ConocoPhillips, to buy the facility and the Whiddy Island oil terminal.

Heads of agreement were signed in July 2000 and the sale was completed on July 16th, 2001. Under the terms of the sale, the US company said it would operate the two facilities for a minimum of 15 years on a fully commercial basis for a consideration of $100 million.

A mandatory regime which required oil companies active in the Irish market to source a proportion of their overall oil requirements from Whitegate was terminated following the change in ownership.

ConocoPhillips's decision to sell the refinery comes a week after Shell announced plans to sell three French refineries.

Other oil companies have also announced plans to reduce their European refining assets in recent months, with BP planning to sell its Coryton refinery in the UK and Exxon Mobil also selling its Ingolstadt refinery in the UK to Swiss refiner Petroplus Holdings.

With headquarters in Houston, Texas, ConocoPhillips operates in more than 40 countries.

The company has about 38,300 employees worldwide and assets of $164 billion. ConocoPhillips stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company is the result of a merger in 2002 of Conoco and Phillips Petroleum.

ConocoPhillips is also involved in the gas industry and has shares in other major energy companies and their subsidiaries, such as Duke Energy and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company.

Chris_533976

Irish Steel Mark II???

Hope not.

mike65

The government could'nt let that happen, we may be small but a refinery is vital to supply security (combined with the Whiddy terminal).

Petroplus look to be the likely buyers http://www.petroplusholdings.com/

Mike.

Voodoo_rasher

Certainly being sold it seems. cutting off the nose to spoil our face. We're such amateurs..

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/states-only-oil-refinery-put-up-for-sale-233501.html

namloc1980

Voodoo_rasher wrote: »

Certainly being sold it seems. cutting off the nose to spoil our face. We're such amateurs..

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/states-only-oil-refinery-put-up-for-sale-233501.html

Who are amateurs? The facility is privately owned, "we" don't have a say in it.

Markcheese

What's gas is this thread was started 6 years ago with an article on connoco/philips selling the plant.... Many ups and downs later it's on the Market, this time with whiddy.
Don't know how much value it has as a refinery... Small and old fashioned, and the commitment to refine at whitegate runs out soon anyway....is it's main value as a terminal for potential Celtic sea oil recovery ??

Victor

Markcheese wrote: »

Small and old fashioned

While small scale and somewhat unsophisticated in its range of products, it was modernised.

Given the demand for fuel elsewhere and that the oil companies aren't matching demand with refining capacity, it will still be needed.