ConocoPhillips: No decision on demolishing Trainer refinery

ConocoPhillips said that no decision has been made about demolishing its refinery in Trainer if the company is unable to immediately find a buyer.

Denis Stephano, president of United Steelworkers Local 10-234 that represents more than 200 workers at the idled Delaware County refinery, said Tuesday that the refinery's owner told labor leaders Thursday that the company would demolish the plant if is not sold by March 31.

"This is the first time the company gave us this information," Stephano said in a news release.

ConocoPhillips announced in September that it would sell the refinery or shut it down permanently. Rich Johnson, a ConocoPhillips spokesman in Houston, said last week that the company is focused on finding a buyer.

"If we have not identified a buyer by the end of March, we intend to permanently shut down the facility," Johnson said Thursday in an e-mail response to a question about rumors of the plant's demolition. "We would evaluate what to do with the equipment and property at that time."

These days in Philadelphia, there is a buyer's market for refineries. The Trainer plant is one of three plant in the region that are on the market or will be shut down in the coming months. Sunoco owns the other two, in Marcus Hook and in Philadelphia. Marcus Hook was idled in December.

In addition, Sunoco is actively trying to sell the equipment at a fourth refinery that was shut down two years ago, the Eagle Point plant in Westville, N.J. An Indian company has expressed interest in shipping the equipment overseas.

Sunoco and ConocoPhillips say they're exiting refining in the region because it is unprofitable.

ConocoPhillips idled its Trainer plant in September. Stephano said Monday the workforce has remained on site preparing the equipment for long-term preservation.

David Erfert, refinery manager at ConocoPhillips, told a legislative hearing in Harrisburg Tuesday that the fate of the refinery is uncertain.

"We have not thought a lot about demolition and whatever options there are after March 31," Erfert told the told the House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee.

Despite efforts of some legislators to quiz corporate officials about the decision to exit refining, the committee's chairman, Rep. Stephen E. Barrar (R., Chester/Delaware), confined questions to safety issues to remain within the scope of the panel's mission.

John Pickering, Sunoco senior vice president of manufacturing, said it "normally takes a couple of years" to clean up and dismantle a complex industrial site like a refinery.