Vitol to restart Cressier refinery

Vitol and AtlasInvest have agreed to buy the Cressier refinery in Switzerland from Petroplus. No price has been reported, although sources suggest the companies’ joint venture, Varo Holding SA, paid “substantially less than $50m”. The parties are thought to be planning to resume activities at the 68,000 bpd refinery rather than converting it to a storage terminal as had been suggested, although the deal will include associated storage, distribution and retail assets. AtlasInvest was set up by the co-founder of Petroplus, Marcel van Poecke. The deal is due to be completed by the end of June.