WILLEMSTAD - If there are problems with running the refinery, then in the worst case it can cost the government almost 115 million guilders.

According to the Dutch newspaper Antilliaans Dagblad, the costs for personnel and equipment amount to 19 million a month.

The Curaçao Refinery Utilities, CRU, took over the operation of the refinery and Bullen Bay on 1 January. The Swiss/American company Klesch takes over on July 1.

According to De Lannoy, 897 people are now employed "for a limited time" at CRU. The contract they signed runs until the takeover by Klesch Group, but no later than 30 June 2020. In addition, CRU provides work for 253 contractors and "an undefined number of service providers". Director of the RdK Marcelino De Lannoy says that this is paid from the resources of the government-owned company RdK.

Over the past few years, the RdK has built up a reserve from income generated through, for example, the lease of the refinery. That money is, as laid down in the statutes, "intended for securing the industry and operating the refinery," says De Lannoy.