BP selling Coryton refinery

London -- BP is to sell its Coryton Refinery in Essex, UK, to Petroplus Holdings AG, an independent refiner and wholesaler based in Zug, Switzerland. The $1.4 billion deal includes an adjacent bulk terminal and BP's UK bitumen business, which is integrated with the refinery.

Petroplus is also entered a long-term agreement to supply BP's UK-based retail and other businesses under the deal, which is due for completion by mid-2007, subject to regulatory approvals. Refinery staff will then transfer to Petroplus, though BP will continue to operate its own UK logistics and supply infrastructure, said a BP statement.

BP does not need to own a refinery in the UK “to offer its UK customers the best in fuel products,” said John Manzoni, chief executive of BP's refining and marketing business. “The sale will enable us to concentrate on continually improving our remaining European refineries so that they remain top class assets.”

Coryton, which employs around 540 BP staff and a similar number of contractors, produces petrol and diesel, aviation fuels, LPG, fuel oils and bitumen. The refinery has a crude distillation capacity of 172,000 barrels a day and can also process up to 70,000 barrels a day of other feedstocks.

Petroplus is also in the process of purchasing a refinery in Ingolstadt, Germany, with a crude capacity of 110,000 barrels a day from ExxonMobil Central Europe Holding GmbH.