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LyondellBasell - the parent company of French bunker supplier Compagnie de Distribution des Hydrocarbures (CDH) - has announced that the sales offering for the 105,000 barrels-per-day refinery in Berre, France has resulted in no offer to purchase the refinery. As a result, Compagnie Petrochimique de Berre S.A.S. (CPB), the refinery operator, intends to initiate consultations with its works councils, as defined under French law, on a project to cease refinery operations.

"After conducting a thorough sales offering that included reaching out to 85 entities throughout the world with the assistance of Barclays Capital and the Invest in France Agency (AFII), unfortunately not a single bid was received for the refinery," said Jean Gadbois, General Manager of the Berre site.

"Despite efforts from employees and management, the refinery continues to suffer severe losses and remains unprofitable," Gadbois said. "With no viable prospects for a buyer of the refinery, we intend to initiate the consultation process regarding the contemplated closure of refinery operations. We intend to focus our resources on the core petrochemical assets at Berre."

LyondellBasell said approximately 370 jobs would be impacted by this project to cease refinery operations. The continuation of the petrochemical operations at Berre are expected to preserve approximately 900 jobs at the Berre site.

The petrochemical assets at Berre include a steam cracker and world-scale polypropylene and polyethylene plants owned and operated by another LyondellBasell subsidiary. The potential closure would not affect depot operations or the petrochemical plants and third-party facilities at Berre, the company said.

The required consultation with the works councils in France is expected to begin in October.

LyondellBasell and Compagnie de Distribution des Hydrocarbures

LyondellBasell Industries is one of the world's largest polymers, petrochemicals and fuels companies. The company is a global leader in polyolefins technology, a pioneer in propylene oxide and derivatives and a significant producer of fuels and refined products, including biofuels.

The company took over ownership of the Berre-l'Etang refinery [pictured] site from Société des Pétroles Shell (Shell) after reaching an agreement to buy the complex for $700 million in August 2007.

Compagnie de Distribution des Hydrocarbures (CDH) commenced the sale of marine fuel from the Berre site in April 2008. The company specializes in the sale of 380-centistoke (cst) bunker fuel (low and high Sulphur) and DMA marine gasoil (MGO).

Deliveries are carried out using the time chartered barge FS Camille. The 2006-built vessel has a heavy fuel oil (HFO) capacity of 3262 cubic metres (cbm) and an MGO capacity of 842 cbm. Its pumping capacity (2 pumps) is 400 cbm/hour.

CDH claims to sell between 200,000 and 300,0000 metric tonnes per year of 380-cst. Amongst its portfolio of customers, CDH says it is the exclusive supplier for SNCM ferries.