Indonesia’s national oil company Pertamina has expressed an interest in buying the Berre oil refinery in southern France, the country’s Industry Minister Arnaud Monebourg (pictured) has revealed. The refinery has been mothballed by LyondellBasell, which has been unable to find a buyer.
“The minister and his team are fully committed to try and make a solution with a future for the refinery and its employees,†read a statement issued by the Industry Ministry.
The refinery is currently in the process of having its assets mothballed and had been expected to remain dormant until at least the end of next year.
The expression of interest comes as French fuel industry labourers grow increasingly worked up about the state of the sector. The Berre refinery had been the third shut in the country in recent times, with the fate of the Petit-Couronne complex – once owned by the now defunct Petroplus – still up in the air.