MOSCOW (MRC) -- Phillips 66 said an international tribunal ruling supports its right to acquire a 50% stake in facilities at its Sweeny refinery in Texas from Petroleos de Venezuela SA, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
The International Chamber of Commerce’s Court of Arbitration upheld Phillips 66’s right to exercise a call option in 2009 and assume PdVSA’s interest in Merey Sweeny, Rich Johnson, a spokesman for the Houston-based refiner, said in an e-mail. The partnership owns a 70,000-bpd delayed coker and related facilities at the refinery.
"Certain defaults by PdVSA with respect to supply of crude oil to the Sweeny refinery triggered the right to acquire PDVSA’s 50% ownership interest," Johnson wrote.
State-owned PdVSA initiated arbitration with the ICC, claiming the exercise of the call right was invalid. A PdVSA spokesman declined to comment on the ruling.
"Since there is not a lot of crude imported into the US anymore, this decision hurts PdVSA on several fronts. First, the company loses the refinery and production, and secondly it loses the opportunity to bring crude into the refinery," Oil Outlooks and Opinions president Carl Larry said in an interview from Houston.
Caracas-based PdVSA is diversifying its oil and products export markets, company president Rafael Ramirez said this weekend during a conference in St. Petersburg, Russia. The company is now sending more exports to Asia than the US, he said.
"Even though PdVSA has the right to appeal the decision, at this point it is basically a no-win scenario for the company, since they lose the crude and product and obviously they lose the interest in the refinery. So, on all fronts it’s a big loss for PDVSA," Larry said.
The economic crisis in Venezuela, which has the world’s biggest oil reserves, has fueled three months of protests against the government of President Nicolas Maduro that have left at least 42 people dead.
As MRC wrote before, Chevron Phillips Chemical and refiner Phillips 66, has finalized the sale of its Chinese polystyrene business to Grand Astor Ltd.In the deal, Chevron Phillips is selling its affiliate company Chevron Phillips Chemical (China) Co. Ltd., which owns a polystyrene plant located in Zhangjiagang, China.
Phillips 66 is an American holding company headquartered in Westchase, Houston, Texas. It debuted as an independent energy company when ConocoPhillips spun off its downstream assets and midstream assets. The company is engaged in producing natural gas liquids (NGL) and petrochemicals. The company has approximately 13,500 employees worldwide and active in more than 45 countries.Phillips 66 is ranked No. 4 on the Fortune 500 list and No. 16 on the Fortune Global 500 list as of 2013.
MRC