WILLEMSTAD - Recently the government-owned company Curaçao Refinery (RdK) held its third information session for the employees of the refinery. RdK organized this event in light of the upcoming visit of the representatives of the possible new operator Klesch Group.
This visit of these representatives is to prepare a plan for the restart of the refinery. This will be done with PdVSA’s subsidiary company Refinery Isla.
The Klesch Group will calculate the investment amount needed to start up the refinery. The refinery has been idle since May 2018. Besides these meetings, the group will also meet with the unions representing the refinery workers.
The Klesch Group will investigate, among other things, the state of the installations and equipment, analyzes of the operational data, data processing with regard to personnel, the safety situation and the environment.
An agreement was signed with Klesch Group on 4 September this year to negotiate on an exclusive basis. Approval for Klesch's access to the refinery site followed on 27 September. Last Friday, October 4, the kick-off meeting took place between Klesch and the management team of Isla, after which Klesch sent questions about due diligence to Isla.
Klesch, Isla and RdK’s Project Management Organization (PMO) have already started - so the employees were told - to investigate how the transition of certain entities can take place. These are the Medical Care Assistance Foundation, Savings and Credit Cooperative, Credit Union Refinery Employees, and Fundashon Nos Deseo, which was set up by the PWFC trade union for employees’ savings.
Other steps that need to be taken are arranging the legal paperwork, meeting and coordinating with government companies such as Curaçao Oil Company (Curoil), tug company Kompania di Tou Kòrsou (KTK) and the Curaçao Ports Authority (CPA).