Oil refinery searches for buyer absent insurance payout

Correction: an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Allianz was the lead insurer on the PES policy.

The Philadelphia oil refinery that filed for bankruptcy a month after a devastating fire is looking for a buyer after failing to obtain insurance proceeds, according to reports.

Philadelphia Energy Solutions Refining & Marketing LLC has $1.25 billion in property insurance coverage, according to a filing with the Delaware bankruptcy court.

Reuters reported Friday that PES has been trying to find a buyer because it has been unsuccessful in claiming on the policy and that it may otherwise have to liquidate.

PES filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 21, a month after a fire amid blasts destroyed an alkylation unit at its 335,000-barrel-per-day refinery.

Th company said in a statement it “expects to establish an orderly process for the evaluation of a range of potentially value-maximizing transactions in the weeks ahead and to work expediently with its insurers, stakeholders, and third parties toward our goal of reaching a consensual plan, rebuilding the damaged infrastructure and resuming refining operations.”

According to court documents in In re: PES Holdings LLC et al., numerous insurers are on the policy, including various Lloyd’s syndicates and units of Allianz SE, Axa SA, Chubb Ltd., HDI Global SE, Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., Oil Casualty Insurance Ltd., Scor SE and Zurich Insurance Group. Aon Risk Services Northeast Inc. is listed as the broker. 

A spokesman for PES could not immediately be reached for comment.