By NOEL MURPHY
SHELL Australia is tightlipped about possible buyers for its Corio refinery following reports of Asian and American customers visiting the site in recent weeks.
The refinery was placed on the market in April and Shell said in September it had undertaken initial talks with potential buyers.
But the oil company has pulled the blinds on any statement after refinery staff told the Independent of Asian, possibly Chinese and American business parties touring the plant.
“I’m sorry but there’s no comment at no stage,” spokesman Paul Zenarro said.
Australian Workers Union national vice president Sam Wood said Shell had “initially been fairly open” about the sale process but recently clammed up.
The future for 600 workers and contractors at the refinery remains uncertain while the sale attempt proceeds.
Shell is keen to conclude a sale by the end of 2014 but could convert the site to an import terminal if a buyer failed to emerge.
The sale caught workers by surprise but Shell’s mother group, Royal Dutch Shell, announced a sell-off in a annual strategic update in March 2010.
The plan was part of a pitch to cut Shell’s global refinery capacity by 15 per cent and 9000 petrol stations. The company announced 5000 job cuts the previous year.
The Geelong refinery operations suffered seriously in 2011/2012 from lost production worth at least $250 million through unscheduled shutdowns.
A $70 million maintenance fit-out closed operations for months before a turbine/compressor breakdown in the refinery catalytic cracker’s power recovery unit, which took several months to repair and cost the company about $2 million a day in lost production.
