Antwerp refinery to be acquired by Gunvor

Trading company Gunvor, a large seller of Russian crudes, is to buy the Antwerp refinery from the administrators of Petroplus, which collapsed in January when lenders cut off its credit

Gunvor says it will re-start the refinery as soon as possible and will operate it on a long-term basis, as part of its strategy of diversifying from pure trading operations. It expects to complete the transaction by end-April.The acquisition of a facility in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and supply hub will provide Gunvor with a substantial and secure outlet for Russian crudes. Although the Antwerp refinery is relatively simple – its Nelson complexity rating, an industry measure of efficiency, is only 4.5 – the 107,500 barrels a day (b/d) facility has substantial hydro-desulphurisation capacity. This allows it to process high-sulphur crudes, such as Russia’s Urals. The facil