July 26, 2012 [Reuters] - Oil product distribution firm Greenergy has bought Britain's Teeside oil storage terminal formerly owned by the bankrupt refining company Petroplus, it said on Thursday.
The purchase follows the sale of Petroplus’s major UK asset, the Coryton refinery near London to a joint venture of Greenergy, Shell and storage operator Vopak, which will turn the refinery into a storage terminal.
Greenergy said that it took diesel supplies from the terminal until it was closed by Petroplus at the start of the year, and that it had been supplying customers from a neighbouring Vopak terminal.
“We will continue … supply our customers from the Vopak facility,” said Andrew Owens Greenergy Chief Executive in a statement.
“Once it has been developed, this new site will be integrated into our existing North East system to give additional product and manufacturing capability.”
The purchase took a long time to execute due to the complex nature of the site and the number of stakeholders involved, Steven Pearson, joint administrator of Petroplus’s UK assets and partner at PwC said in a press statement.
“We are pleased to have been able to secure a sale of the vast majority of the Company’s assets to Greenergy, and in doing so preserving key infrastructure assets in the North East of England.”