WILLEMSTAD - A BOO power station that has been faltering for years is at the heart of the current problems between Refineria di Kòrsou (RdK) and Isla / PdVSA. The supply of electricity, steam, water and compressed air to the refinery was unreliable and ensured that the refining process came to a halt.
This is evident from the pleading notes of law firm Da Costa Gomez & Peterson Law Group on behalf of Refineria Isla Curaçao bv, Refineria Isla SA and Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PdVSA). RdK has filed summary proceedings against the three companies that operated the Curaçao refinery until 31 December. RdK demands payment of more than $ 150 million. Unjustified, states lawyer Chester Peterson.
The BOO power plant has been owned by state company RdK since 2011 and is managed by RdK subsidiary Curaçao Refinery Utilities (CRU). CRU supplies electricity, steam, water and compressed air to the refinery. Isla did pay for the supply of utilities "but, after years of not getting any value for money, the Venezuelan company brought its payments in line with what was delivered," states the defense of the Venezuelan state oil company and its two subsidiaries.
In addition to an amount of $ 100 million due to underproduction, RdK is claiming nearly $ 51.3 million in arrears of Take-or-Pay (TOP) payments. Isla / PdVSA disputes that this is an "absolute and unconditional payment obligation", regardless of whether the utilities were supplied by the BOO power plant or purchased by the refinery operator. "Isla should only pay for utilities that it would receive structurally delivered reliably," Peterson says. And that was not the case. According to the lawyer, in 1994 a new lease with RdK included that the production and delivery of the utilities would be provided by a third party with a new production facility.
The public limited company Curaçao Utilities Company Holding was set up to realize the BOO plant, a joint venture of Aqualectra with 49 percent of the shares and the Japanese consortium Mitsubishi and Marubeni (51 percent). The BOO plant was built and managed by Curaçao Utilities Company (CUC), a subsidiary of the holding company.