Canada's Atlantic refiners regroup after failing to find buyer

Canada's east coast refining market is consolidating as the country reduces its dependence on offshore crude

Imperial Oil, Canada's largest integrated oil producer, announced it would shut the 88,000 barrel a day (b/d) Dartmouth refinery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, after failing to find a buyer for the 95-year-old facility. Imperial, majority owned by ExxonMobil, said it would take a C$280 million ($272.2m) charge to convert the site into a refined product terminal. The transition is expected to be completed in the second half of this year. Dartmouth, built in 1918, serves a regional market supplied with imported crudes from West Africa, the North Sea and South America. Surplus products such as gasoline are re-exported to the US. Imperial's chairman Rich Kruger said the small size and age of the facil