BP has announced its will sell its Coryton Refinery in Essex, UK, to Petroplus Holdings AG, a leading independent refiner and wholesaler of petroleum products headquartered in Zug, Switzerland. Petroplus own refineries in Teesside, Cressier in Switzerland and at Antwerp in Belgium. The sale is expected to be completed in mid-2007 with its Essex personnel transferring to the new company.
Earlier this month a US report condemned 'material deficiencies' in BP's safety procedures at its American oil refineries. Led by former US Secretary of State James A Baker, the panel probed a 2005 explosion at BP's Texas City refinery, that killed 15 people and injured 180.
BP said it would implement the report's recommendations, adding it had taken significant steps to improve safety. 
The sale price of Coryton - $1.4 billion - plus hydrocarbons to be valued at closing - includes the adjacent bulk terminal and BP's UK bitumen business which is closely integrated with the refinery. BP and Petroplus have also entered into a long term supply agreement which will provide BP's UK based retail and other businesses with the products they require.
"BP is very much committed to the UK and 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."
Following completion of the sale, which is expected mid 2007, the staff at the refinery will transfer to Petroplus but BP will continue to operate its own UK logistics and supply infrastructure. Here are some of the facts about Coryton:
    * Coryton started up in 1953 and currently employs around 540 BP staff and a similar number of contractors.
    * 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. 
    * Coryton produces petrol and diesel, including the new 'cleaner' fuels, aviation fuels, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), fuel oils and bitumen.
    * Excluding Coryton, BP owns or has shareholdings in seven European refineries, with its principal refining assets being in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.
    * Petroplus Holdings AG currently owns and operates three European refineries - Teeside Refinery in Teeside, UK, Cressier Refinery in Neuchatel, Switzerland, and the Belgium Refining Company's refinery in Antwerp, Belgium - with a total crude capacity of 295,000 barrels a day.
    * 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.