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IRELAND’S ONLY OIL refinery at Whitegate in Cork is set to be sold to Canadian operator Irving Oil.
The facility’s current owner, Phillips 66, put the refinery up for sale last year but had been struggling to find a buyer. There had been several reports of a deal being closed in recent days.
Irving Oil announced today that it has reached an agreement with Houston-based Phillips 66 to buy the refinery.
Financial details of the sale were not revealed by Irving. The company said that it “ looks forward to sharing more information on this acquisition upon the close of the purchase and sale agreement”.
It said that the transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter “once all conditions of the sale have been met”. Once the deal is complete Irving will assume full ownership of the refinery.
There had been fears for the future of the refinery and its staff as a contract to keep the facility open was due to end.
However, Irving said that it will continue to oversee the “full operation of the facility, including maintaining its existing workforce”.
State owned
Whitegate was state owned until it was sold by the then-Fianna Fáil government in 2001 to US refining firm Tosco for €100 million. Tosco was later taken over by Phillips 66.
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The Whitegate facility is Ireland’s sole refinery, processing up to 75,000 barrels of crude oil per day and producing transportation and heating fuels such as gasoline, diesel and kerosene.
Built in 1959, it has a workforce of 160 employees as well as many contract personnel.
Irving
Irving chairman Arthur Irving said that the company was “pleased” to buy the refinery.
“It’s a good day for our company and we’re looking forward to welcoming the Whitegate team to Irving Oil,” he said.
Irving Oil was founded in 1924 and is a privately owned regional refining and marketing company.
It operates Canada’s largest refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, which is located 65 miles north of the US border and has produced more than 320,000 barrels per day.
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This was state owned which means it was owned by the Irish people as per our constitution .
Why do the government think they have the authority to sell something that’s owned by the people and a referendum should have been put in place by Fianna fail to vote a decision in by the people to sell or keep same .
The refinery supplies 40 per cent of the Irish market and the Government regards it as key to maintaining energy security in the Republic.
The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten said: “Security of energy supply is important to ongoing economic growth and development and a pillar of our energy policy.
Irish Times
Some Tosco executives travelled over to Ireland from US in 2001 with a draft for €100 m and asked a Corkman, close to Government, should we buy Whitegate Oil Refinery?
Any news on the ground about the offshore drilling rights sold to BP and ExxonMobil who plan to do whatever they wish in the richest fishing ground we have left the porcupine basin off West Cork and Kerry? Since they are banned from doing drilling State side of the Atlantic Coast sure why not head this way to the political nonsensical sheep.
Banned! It’s not licensed for reasons more than just environmental and fishing. But then that might need to be looked into but who needs facts! In fairness Ireland’s exploration is held back due to the shell to sea campaign impacting on our reputation and the fact we have limited supply base! If the government had any clue they would invest in the infrastructure not just for that reason but also for fishing and tourism!
They drill Canada side of the water, 13 wells off the coast of Newfoundland (a mostly Irish province) and more to come. Hopefully the Irvings will keep your existing workforce on the job.
Please tell me that comment is a joke? Do you have to authorise every decision? What about authorising the suppliers of the crude oil? Your way of thinking would fit right in with the government!
Indeed. Though the damage was done when the plant was privatized initially by FF in 2001. And I did find the Brexit result and the impotent outrage of the establishment quite amusing.
Quantities of oil discovered in Irish waters over the passed 15 years government figures estimate reserves at 420 BILLION. However this weath has been taken from the Irish economy thanks to Charlie Haughey & Ray Burk! But the people of Norway are very happy & have thanked us. ( can been seen on youtube )
So that would give Ireland the biggest reserves on earth? Enough with the sensational figures with cap locks. Estimates mean nothing. Do you have a figure for proven reserves? Or what about a figure for commercial find to exploration drill ratio? Didn’t think so.
Im confused…..did one of our natural resourse ministers not appear on primetime/news or Clare byrne to suggest Ireland had NO oil ???…surely he didnt lie on tv ???
Yes tom because it can only use what’s call sweet crude. I believe a lot of it comes from Libya. This place is prehistoric & requires lots of investment. Highly unlikely as we can import refined product easily.
Wrong . Cheap Sour crude from Libya was before all the destruction there. Converted to valuable Sweet crude using their new state of the art Asa Plant ( Amine & Sulphuric Acid Plant ). So sulphur out. Combine w/ h20= env friendly disposal of h2so4 (sulphuric acid) I.s.o. Env costly disposal of waste sulphur/burn off SO2.
Shocking amount of misinformation and poor understanding of the up and downstream oil and gas operations in some posts! But far be it from facts to get in the way!
The government can’t run businesses. This us a business not public infrastructure like hospitals or libraries. e.g. Does the government run mobile phone companies? No, Works perfectly well without their greedy snouts in the trough.
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