WILLEMSTAD - The union PWFC which represents the refinery employees has called an emergency meeting with its members to discuss the latest developments in the process of finding a new operator for the refinery.

As was announced yesterday, the Saudi Arabia´s US refining company Motiva Enterprises has dropped out of talks to operate Curacao's 335,000 b/d Isla refinery. Curacao state-owned refinery company RdK said the "preferred bidder", previously confirmed by market participants as Motiva, decided not to continue the negotiations. RdK said it would continue the process of identifying a refining partner.

This did not go down well with the employees who are accusing the government of boycotting the process. They are also accusing the government of secretly meeting with the Green Town organization which has been campaigning for a Curaçao without the refinery.

The union gave an ultimatum to Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath to meet with the employees at 1 o’clock to give answers to them. The Premier showed up at 3 o’clock and gave the employees the opportunity to ask questions.

Minister Suzanne Camelia-Römer of Public Health and Environment was also present. The premier spoke about the process and that there are two other interested parties that will continue negotiating. Hopefully soon, the Curaçao Refinery (RdK) will sign an MoU with one of these parties. The Premier stressed that it is not the intention to close the refinery but on the contrary, to keep it open and guarantee jobs.

The meeting did not end well. The employees accused the Premier of not being transparent. The Premier did not take this well and said that he has always been transparent about the entire process since the beginning. He said that he will not accept these accusations and then got up and walked out.

The two demands presented by the unions are that they do not want Clift Christiaan in the negotiating committee, and they want Errol Cova to be appointed as their representative.

Later in the evening, the employees met with Prime Minister Rhuggenaath again who apologized for walking out on them and then asked them to give him space to discuss their demands with the Council of Ministers. The employees said that they would give him that space but would not return to work until they have received satisfactory answers to their demands.

This morning the actions continued when the unions blocked several main roads leading to downtown Willemstad.