QUEBEC – Nicolas Houle, director of Shell Canada’s Montreal East oil refinery, got a rough ride Tuesday at special National Assembly hearings challenging the company’s decision to shut down the facility.
“Why should I give you a permit to dismantle it?” asked Natural Resources Minister Nathalie Normandeau.
“We feel we have been tricked, fooled and demoralized,” added Nicole Léger, the Parti Québécois MNA for Pointe-aux-Trembles riding, where the refinery, with a payroll of 500, is located.
“I remain convinced there are buyers,” Léger added, suggesting Shell did not invest enough in the refinery to make it attractive to a potential buyer.
Houle replied to Normandeau that under Quebec’s environmental laws, Shell has to dismantle the refinery now that it has ceased operations, and must decontaminate the soil, after 77 years of operation.
He said the decision to get out of the refining business in Montreal was motivated by a global strategy, in the interests of Shell shareholders, to shift upstream, focusing on the crude oil end of the business rather than refined products.
Normandeau noted Shell had no trouble selling two refineries in France, asking why it could not sell the Montreal facility.
Houle said “eight or nine” potential buyers approached Shell, resulting in two “declarations of interest,” but no offers.
He said the inventory of the refinery in worth $400 million and it would require investments of $600 million to remain competitive.
“I’m a straight shooter,” Houle told the committee, saying Shell looked into adapting the Montreal refinery to handle Alberta tarsands.
“Montreal was not the place to make this investment,” he said.
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