Glimmer of hope for Come By Chance refinery
Potential buyers meet with local union
It’s been more than a year since any oil has been processed at the refinery in Come By Chance.
This week, however, there are hints of better days ahead.
In a Facebook post Thursday, United Steelworkers Local 9316 president Glen Nolan said the union has met with potential buyers who “gave a verbal overview of what they hope to do with the refinery.”
The union will hold a meeting for its members next Thursday at 6 p.m.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting will be held outdoors, and maskwearing and social distancing will be required.
Nolan could not be reached for comment, but Local 9316 vice-president Perry Feltham confirmed for Saltwire Network that representatives of Cresta Fund Management were in Come By Chance this week and met with the union executive.
News agency Reuters reported in February that the Texas-based firm had offered to buy a majority stake in North Atlantic Refining Ltd. (NARL), which is currently owned by New York-based investment firm Silverpeak. Cresta did not respond to Saltwire’s requests for an interview.
Feltham said the union is feeling “positive” from its meeting with Cresta last week.
He’s reluctant to say more, noting they’ve gone down this road before.
Last year, Irving Oil made a pitch to buy the refinery, but by October that deal had fizzled and died.
“It was all go, go, go and then the rug came right out from under it,” he said.
Feltham said he’s leery of being too optimistic “until we see something on paper that a deal is done.”
However, he added, “I feel better now than I did last week.”
Like many refinery owners around the world, North Atlantic Refining was significantly affected by the COVID19 pandemic.
As countries went into lockdown and airline travel ceased, the demand for jet fuel and other petroleum products took a dive.
The flame on the flare stack at Come By Chance went out in March 2020.
Just the year before, the future of the refinery was looking bright.
Silverpeak had spent about $400 million to increase the refinery’s capacity from 90,000 barrels per day to 135,000 barrels per day.
Earlier this year, to ensure the refinery could remain in warm-idle mode, the province did a $16.6-million deal with Silverpeak. The deal — which is slated to end in June — covered 75 per cent of the labour costs and 50 per cent of other costs associated with the warm idle, enabling the refinery to keep 200 people on the payroll.
Before its shutdown last March, the refinery employed about 500 people.
Feltham said some members of the union have found work on other job sites, but he’s not sure how many have found work elsewhere or what kind of jobs they’ve been able to find.
North Atlantic Refining Ltd. would offer few details on recent developments.
The company would only say, “North Atlantic continues to explore options with potential partners and investors to restart the refinery. Due to the sensitive nature of these discussions, we are unable to provide any further information at this time.”