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Rabat – SAMIR, the company that runs Morocco’s only oil refinery, will resume production in mid-June, ten months after management halted production due to “financial restraints,” according to a source quoted by Medias24.
The restart has been encouraged by Commercial Court of Casablanca, which has decided on and presided over the liquidation of the company after a long period of nonprofitable operations. The court says restarting production would lead the value of the company to rise and ease its sale in the near future.
“No serious leads” for a potential buyer for SAMIR have been found, though some foreign creditors in the petroleum industry have discussed the possibility of converting the company’s massive debt against equity.
The source said the court had approved a three-month delay of SAMIR’s liquidation to allow for new production, though the refinery still has technical problems, which “do not prove to be unsurmountable.”
Crude oil supplies prove to be bigger issue, since SAMIR currently owns only 5-6 days of the raw product to refine.
The company sent out a new offer to buy crude oil, to which “there were answers.”
Mohamed Krimi, the trustee for SAMIR, had desired to purchase the raw supplies against the refined product, but none of the anticipated contracts could be concluded despite verbal agreements.
Last Friday, the company held a meeting with the boards of its subsidiaries – ACAFE (for training) , SDCC (for distribution) and STPP COMADI – during which, one director, Mohamed Ghayate, resigned from his positions in various boards.
SAMIR’s 2015 profit and loss statements are expected to be released by the end of May.
