<article><p class="lead">Curacao has selected another preferred bidder to negotiate a lease on its oil refinery, Bullen Bay terminal and associated assets.</p><p>State-owned assets owner RdK said it will "immediately" start negotiating with a consortium, Curaçao Oil Refinery Complex BV (Corc). The Dutch-controlled island's government will carry out parallel negotiations on the contract conditions.</p><p>"The negotiations for all contracts are expected to start simultaneously and it is anticipated that a final agreement should be signed by the beginning of this March," RdK said.</p><p>The aging Isla refinery, which has a nominal capacity of 335,000 b/d, had been operated by Venezuela's state-owned PdV since the mid-1980s until Curacao allowed the lease to lapse at the end of 2019. In the waning years of the lease, the refinery operated at minimal levels because of a lack of Venezuelan crude feedstock and equipment maintenance. The plant has since been idle.</p><p>Corc, whose shareholders were not immediately disclosed, is the fourth candidate to recover the refinery. An ambitious $5.5bn agreement with Chinese state-owned Guangdong Zhenrong Energy (GZE) <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1604818?keywords=gze%20curacao">collapsed</a> in early 2018 under a cloud of corruption allegations. Saudi Arabia's Motiva then flirted with the project, followed by German refiner and trader Klesch whose preliminary agreement was terminated in July 2020.</p><p>The refinery is critical to Curacao's economy, and a deal would have political implications ahead of the island's 19 March parliamentary elections. Covid-19 restrictions and the refinery's closure contributed to a record 20.2pc decline in real GDP in 2020, according to preliminary central bank estimates. The bank forecasts 4.8pc growth in 2021.</p><p>The Curacao development coincides with separate <a href="https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news/2167911-quanten-eagle-lng-eye-aruba-energy-projects">industry negotiations with two US companies</a> in fellow Dutch Caribbean island Aruba, where PdV's US refining arm Citgo had been managing a $1.1bn project to refurbish another refinery. The deal fell apart after Venezuela's US-backed opposition took control of Citgo in 2019. </p><p>Curacao and Aruba were once key parts of PdV's nearshore logistical network that helped to ferry Venezuelan crude to longer-haul destinations. </p><p class="bylines">By Patricia Garip</p></article>
