The Come By Chance refinery in Newfoundland and Labrador is getting another chance thanks to new ownership and a plan to produce renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel beginning in mid-2022.
The Newfoundland and Labrador government has announced that an agreement was reached in the sale of the refinery to Cresta Fund Management, a Texas-based equity firm. Cresta will acquire a majority interest in the facility, and it will be renamed Braya Renewable Fuels, the government said.
“This is a positive step as the province itself looks to transition into a greener economy,” Premier Andrew Furey said in St. John’s.
Cresta is purchasing the facility from New York-based investment firm Silverpeak, which will maintain a minority interest in the refinery, officials said. Silverpeak is the parent company of North Atlantic Refining Ltd., the company that had been operating the refinery. The companies would not say how much the deal was worth.
Among its commitments to the refinery, Cresta will be required to maintain employment equal to a minimum of 200 full-time positions, which is fewer than the 335 workers represented by United Steelworkers Local 9316.
The province said Cresta plans to be producing about 14,000 barrels a day of “sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel” at the facility by mid-2022, with an aim to eventually double that output.
The Come by Chance development isn’t the only good news for the province on the energy front. Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro President and CEO Jennifer Williams announced recently that the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric generating station is complete and ready for service, and will be integrated into the provincial electricity system.
“With the commissioning of Unit 4, all four units…have now been transferred to operations available for service, and we are one step closer to completing the overall project,” Williams said.
The Muskrat Falls project has been plagued by cost overruns, multiple delays and an overall price tag that went from $6.2 billion to more than $13.1 billion.
Under the power-purchase agreement between Muskrat Falls Corp. and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro – with the Muskrat Falls station now complete – funds will begin to be transferred to start paying for the plant.
Customers’ bills, however, will remain unchanged until rate mitigation is complete.