TIRANA (Albania), December 28 (SeeNews) – Albania’s oil refiner ARMO has stopped operations due to a halt in crude oil supplies, its administrator, the Ionian Refining and Trading Company (IRTC), said.
The main supplier of IRTC, Canadian-Chinese oil producer Bankers Petroleum, which is the biggest supplier of crude oil in Albania, prefers to sell its products on the foreign market rather than to Albanian refineries, IRTC said in press release on Wednesday.
For its part, Bankers Petroleum said IRTC had defaulted on its obligations.
“IRTC has failed to meet its financial obligations,” Bankers said in a press release late on Wednesday, adding that this is the only reason for the halt in deliveries.
The IRTC and Bankers statements came after around 300 ARMO workers marched from the southwestern city of Fier to the capital Tirana demanding unpaid wages, social security arrears and restart of work, local media reported.
In September 2016, Bankers Petroleum said it signed an agreement with IRTC to supply it with up to 65% of its output.
The assets of Albania's indebted oil refiner ARMO - the refineries in Fier and Ballsh - are under the administration of IRTC since September 2016.
In the first nine months of 2017, ARMO's debts stood at some 13.2 billion leks ($117.3 million/98.7 million euro), local business news provider Monitor has reported, quoting sources from the country's tax authorities.
According to IRTC's website, the Fier and Ballsh refineries employ around 1035 people.
(1 euro = 132.153 leks)