Brussels, 27/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 26 April, the European Commission approved the proposed acquisition of Coryton Refinery, a UK crude oil refinery, by the Swiss based Petroplus Refining and Marketing Limited. Petroplus is a company indirectly owned by Petroplus Holdings AG, which is active principally in refining, storing, marketing, and international trading of crude oil and refined petroleum products.
The Commission's examination of the proposed transaction showed that the horizontal overlaps between the activities of Petroplus and Coryton Refinery, currently owned by BP, in the markets of refined oil products would be limited and that the transaction would not give raise to any vertically affected markets. Furthermore no custom would be transferred with the Coryton business, apart from the bitumen business, where the parties have no overlapping activities in the UK market. The Commission therefore concluded that the proposed transaction would not create any competition concerns. (cd)