WILLEMSTAD – Nearly half a million barrels of ‘fuel oil’ will be auctioned at Bullenbaai today. The Antilliaans Dagblad reports this. The minimum bid must raise more than US$9.2 million, which is equivalent to the outstanding debt of Curaçao Refinery Utilities CRU, a subsidiary of government-owned company Refineria di Kòrsou, RdK.
The debt arose due to the bankruptcy of the Caribbean Petroleum Refinary Holding CPR, the company that was to take over the refinery and had already started transshipping oil in Bullen Bay.
The judge ruled that CPR had to pay more than eight million dollars to the operator of Bullenbaai, the Curaçao Refinery Utilities CRU. In addition, the holding company must pay more than 170 thousand dollars every month from July 16, as long as one of the tanks is in use.
Buyer
CRU focuses on full payment of all costs. All future shipping costs are for the buyer. The oil has been stored in oil tank 9099 at the Bullenbaai oil terminal since September 2022.
After the auction, the storage costs are for the new owner, who must also consult with CRU about paying the storage costs from the auction and pumping the oil to a rented tanker.
It is unclear what a barrel of fuel oil is currently doing on the international fuel market, but there are said to be several interested buyers.
