Curacao to auction stored PdV oil to cover debts

Curacao's state-owned refinery utilities company CRU plans to auction close to 865,000 bl of crude and products to settle part of its claims against the local unit of Venezuelan state-owned PdV.

The auction of crude, bitumen, fuel oil and blendstocks will take place on 11 June, according to RdK, the state-owned refinery owner.

All of the products earmarked for sale are currently embargoed by CRU and other creditors in storage tanks at the idle 335,000 b/d Isla refinery that PdV previously operated under a long-term lease. Part of the proceeds will cover labor debts.

PdV's lease on the refinery and associated Bullen Bay terminal expired in December 2019. Curacao is currently in the final stage of negotiations with the Corc consortium for a new lease to restart the aging plant.

Corc's lead partner is Dick and Doof, a Dutch contractor that formerly serviced Shell's Caribbean and Latin American downstream assets. The refinery was built by Shell over a century ago.

Trading company Mercuria started using products storage at Bullen Bay under a short-term lease signed in December, breathing life into the island's oil assets that had been mostly idle for years. PdV used the installations as part of an extensive Dutch Caribbean logistical network that eroded under the weight of unpaid debts and US sanctions.

By Patricia Garip