WILLEMSTAD - On May 7, the Curaçao Refinery Utilities (CRU) informed the employees working at the refinery that the negotiations with the Klesch Group have been impacted by the situation caused by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In December last year, Refineria di Korsou (RdK), or Curaçao Refinery, and Klesch Group signed an acquisition agreement of the refinery facilities, the utility plant, and the terminal at Bullen Bay. During these last few months, RdK and Klesch have been working on complying with the conditions to close the deal with the intention of finalizing the agreement no later than June 30, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic, according to Klesch, has complicated the process to finalize the agreement by this date.

Klesch indicated nevertheless to remain committed to reach a deal before the end of this year.

CRU’s management, in a letter to its employees, recognized that there could be questions from the employees about the future of their jobs after June 30. Currently, CRU cannot say anything concrete, but this is their priority. The management hopes that in the coming weeks they can have more definitive and concrete information about what will exactly happen with CRU’s employees after June 30.

CRU has taken some steps to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to RdK it is important to note that they have covered all operational costs including salaries of the refinery employees. These financial reserves are limited. For that reason, CRU is doing its utmost to generate income by preparing the Bullen Bay terminal for storage. This will offer storage service by the end of this month.

At the same time RdK is doing its utmost to reduce its operating expenses including personnel. Additionally, RdK is using all legal methods to collect from former operator Isla and Venezuelan PDVSA what they owe in lease and other commitments they had when the transfer papers were signed on January 15, 2020.