WILLEMSTAD – Curaçao Refinery Utilities (CRU) owed parent company 2BAYS more than XCG 300 million at the end of 2025, but 2BAYS now expects to recover virtually none of that money from its wholly owned subsidiary.
The extraordinary size of the receivable emerges from the annual financial statements of Refineria di Kòrsou, now known as 2BAYS, covering the years 2020 through 2025.
The documents show how the financial relationship between the two state-owned companies has developed since the departure of PdVSA and the shutdown of regular refinery production.
2BAYS has continued advancing funds to CRU to finance its operations. As a result, the amount owed by CRU to its parent company has increased dramatically.
At the end of 2019, 2BAYS was owed more than XCG 104 million by CRU. By the end of 2020, that figure had risen to nearly XCG 180 million.
The amount continued climbing in subsequent years and exceeded XCG 300 million by the end of 2025. This represents an increase of almost XCG 200 million compared with the end of 2019.
The XCG 300 million receivable should not be confused with CRU’s accumulated losses.
CRU recorded approximately XCG 175.5 million in losses between 2020 and 2025, which were absorbed by 2BAYS. However, the intercompany account also contains other payments and financial transactions between the two entities. The XCG 300 million debt and XCG 175.5 million in accumulated losses therefore cannot simply be added together.
More striking is how 2BAYS now values the money owed by its subsidiary.
Of the more than XCG 300 million receivable, only approximately XCG 468,000 remains on the balance sheet as an amount 2BAYS expects to recover.
The remainder has effectively been written down because 2BAYS considers it unlikely that CRU will be able to repay the money.
According to the financial statements, the reason is CRU’s continued losses and its inability to meet all of its financial obligations.
The accounting treatment does not eliminate the debt. CRU legally continues to owe the money to 2BAYS. However, for financial reporting purposes, the parent company assumes that almost the entire amount will not be recovered.
The situation illustrates the financial structure that has developed around the former Isla refinery since PdVSA’s departure.
CRU continues to perform essential work, including maintaining utilities and infrastructure required for Curaçao’s fuel supply. It operates at a loss, while 2BAYS finances its activities, absorbs those losses and sees its receivable from CRU continue to grow.
2BAYS itself has not been loss-making every year. The state-owned company reported profits in 2021, 2022 and 2023, supported in part by the sale of old oil inventories, interest income and investments.
It subsequently recorded a loss of more than XCG 31 million in 2024 before returning to a profit of more than XCG 5 million in 2025.
That recovery at the parent-company level does not change CRU’s underlying financial position. The subsidiary remains structurally loss-making, while the more than XCG 300 million owed to 2BAYS has, for accounting purposes, been reduced to a recoverable value of only about XCG 468,000.