WILLEMSTAD - The Information Department of the government is quite busy these days giving information on the deal with the new refinery operator Klesch Group and what the differences are with what Curaçao had with the Venezuelan State Oil Company PDVSA. The government says in one of these information campaigns that the agreement it has concluded with the American Klesch Group is an improvement on several points with the lease agreement that existed with PdVSA. This is evident from an overview that the Curaçao government has spread through social media.

Curaçao took over the Shell refinery for the symbolic amount of one guilder. Klesch now pays one dollar. But the big difference is that the government itself had to pay for investments in the installations and the costs of environmental damage.

With the agreement, the Klesch Group has committed itself to invest in the modernization of the installations and the overdue maintenance.

The deal of December 22 provides more money for Curaçao. The 1985 agreement stipulated that the Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA had to pay 10 million dollars in rent annually to Refineria di Kòrsou (RdK), on behalf of the government, owner of the refinery installations and grounds.

"Only after many years the amount was raised to 20 million guilders."

Unlike then, Klesch now not only has to pay 15 million dollars a year in leasehold (rent of the land), but also 15 cents for every barrel that is transported through the Bullen Bay oil terminal. That can yield between 10 and 14 million dollars annually.

A simple sum shows that instead of just 20 million a year, the new agreement generates revenues of between 25 and 30 million dollars. Moreover, Klesch uses less land than PdVSA: around 500 hectares instead of 700 hectares. This gives RdK the opportunity to develop industrial activities on an area of ​​approximately 200 hectares and to create more employment according to the Horizonte Nobo (New Horizon) plan.

The new owner also takes over the installations of Curaçao Refinery Utilities (CRU) and must therefore maintain them himself. The government emphasizes in the overview that "the Klesch Group is not allowed to sell the installations of the refinery without authorization from RdK".

The Facebook page also states that it is not strange that the American company will buy the crude oil for the Curacao refinery on the international market. “That is very common in the oil industry. In this way our refinery is not dependent on oil that must come from one and the same country.”