Irving Oil terminates deal to buy NARL’s Come-by-Chance refinery, assets

Privately owned Irving Oil Ltd., Saint John, NB, has cancelled its previously announced agreement with Silverpeak, a New York-based investment management firm, to acquire the Silverpeak-North Atlantic partnership’s North Atlantic Refining Corp., which includes NARL Refining LP’s 130,000-b/d refinery at Come-by-Chance, Newf., as well as a network of retail sites and other marketing assets (OGJ Online, May 28, 2020).

The purchase agreement has been terminated, but confidentiality provisions of the agreement prohibit further comment at this time, Irving Oil said on Oct. 6.

NARL Refining—which paused production activities at Come-by-Chance refinery in late March to ensure safety of its employees, their families, and operations amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic—previously announced it was in the process of undertaking projects aimed at increasing crude flexibility and efficiency at the refinery as part of the operator’s strategy to support the site’s long-term viability and competitive advantage (OGJ Online, Apr. 1, 2020; Aug. 1, 2019; July 8, 2019).

Irving Oil owns and operates its 320,000-b/d St. John refinery in the eastern Canadian province of New Brunswick, as well as the 75,000-b/d Whitegate refinery in County Cork, Ireland.