19 February 2006 By Neil Callanan

Financier Dermot Desmond is a major investor in a company investigating the feasibility of building a €1.7 billion oil refinery in Canada. He is backing the Newfoundland and Labrador Refining Corporation (NLRC), which is spending almost €6million on a study into the proposed refinery in Newfoundland.

Other investors include Scottish businessman Harry Dobson, venture capitalist Stephen Posford and Canadian resources company Altius.

The feasibility study will take 42 weeks and will analyse the potential supply of oil, the refinery’s layout and engineering requirements, and the refined products that would be produced. The size of the refinery will be determined by the study but, according to the Newfoundland and Labrador government, the concept envisions a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day.

Danny Williams, the premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, said the proposal had ‘‘tremendous economic implications for the province’’.

The proposed refinery would be built in the upper Placentia Bay region, close to Newfoundland’s only other refinery, which has a capacity of 105,000 barrels a day.

NLRC said it chose the location because of a skilled workforce, ice-free deep water shipping lanes and its proximity to oil supplies and large markets for finished products.

If the refinery is built, oil would be shipped to it from all over the globe, because most refineries have longer working life spans than oilfields.

At the announcement of the study, Williams said there had ‘‘been absolutely no discussion whatsoever of public financial involvement’’ in a new refinery.

 

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