MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hilco Redevelopment Partners closed on its USD225.5 million deal with Philadelphia Energy Solutions, reported Reuters with reference to the developer, acquiring the site of the largest and oldest East Coast oil refining complex.
PES put its 335,000 barrel-per-day Philadelphia refinery up for sale and filed for bankruptcy after a fire and series of explosions tore through the plant last summer.
HRP plans to turn the 1,300-acre site, which was used for oil refining for the past 150 years, into a mixed-use industrial park.
“We see the investment as a once-in-a-generation investment. These 1,300 acres are very strategically located from a supply chain perspective on the East Coast,” said HRP Chief Executive Officer Roberto Perez, noting the site’s rail yards, access to waterborne shipments and pipeline connectivity.
Cleaning up the deeply-contaminated refinery land will fall on HRP and former refinery owner Sunoco. The cost is expected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Perez said.
HRP is not considering restarting any portion of the plant, but it is retaining a tank farm and other energy logistics that came with the sale, Perez said.
“The Schuylkill River Tank Farm and its connectivity to pipelines - we see it as a tremendous asset,” Perez said.
The next phase of the project will include demolishing the massive refining complex. Rebuilding the site is expected to take about 10 years.
PES filed for bankruptcy and shut its refinery after a series of explosions and fire at one of its gasoline processing units on June 21, 2019. More than 1,000 full-time employees were laid off without benefits, including 640 United Steelworkers members.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney applauded the sale.
“The action creates jobs, ensures the future commercial viability of the site, and decreases the former refinery’s environmental impact,” Kenney said in a statement.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 721,290 tonnes in the first four month of 2020, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments grew partially because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Supply exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
MRC