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Gunvor Group Completes Purchase of Petroplus’s Antwerp Refinery

Gunvor Group, one of the world’s major independent commodity trading companies, has announced that it has successfully completed the purchase of Petroplus’s refinery in Antwerp.

Independent Belgian Refinery N.V., as the new – 100% Gunvor-owned and Belgian subsidiary is named – has obtained all the necessary permits, licenses and authorisations from the relevant Belgian authorities in order to operate the refinery.

It will retain the services of all 200+ existing members of staff and invest the required capital expenditure to maintain and improve the current safety, operational and environmental standards. The refinery’s operations were suspended in early January as a result of Petroplus’s financial situation, but will now be restarted within the next few days. It has a processing capability of more than 100,000 barrels of oil per day, and storage capacity of more than 1.2 million cubic metres.

Gunvor also completed negotiations with Petroplus Marketing AG to buy the remaining inventory of stock located at the refinery.

Torbjörn Törnqvist, CEO of Gunvor Group, commented: “We are very pleased to have completed the purchase for what will be a significant asset for the group as we look to expand our presence and trading activities in the ARA region, as well as continuing our wider strategy of diversification from pure trading operations. We would like to thank the tremendous efforts and cooperation of the unions and employees, the federal and local authorities and all other parties involved in getting this transaction completed so swiftly.”