TORONTO, July 24 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc said on Saturday it would resume talks with Delek US Holdings about the fate of Shell's Montreal refinery in a last-ditch attempt to keep the plant open and avoid job cuts.
In a brief statement, Shell said Delek had agreed to a meeting to see if the two sides can find common ground on the future of the 130,000 barrel a day Montreal East Refinery.
'For confidentiality reasons, Shell will not provide updates on details or progress of these conversations until it is appropriate to do so,' Shell added.
Shell has said it is prepared to sell the plant to Delek, an arm of Israel's Delek Group, for a price around C$150 million to C$200 million ($144 million to $192 million), if the would-be buyer can conduct a major maintenance run quickly enough and ensure it keeps supplying customers.
If the deal does not go through, Shell has said it wants to halt refinery operations and convert the site into a fuel terminal. It extended the search for buyers for nearly six months at the urging of the Quebec government, in an effort to save about 500 jobs.
($1=$1.04 Canadian)
(Reporting by Janet Guttsman, editing by Vicki Allen) Keywords: SHELL REFINERY (janet.guttsman@thomsonreuters.com; 416-941-8100: Reuters Messaging: janet.guttsman.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
In a brief statement, Shell said Delek had agreed to a meeting to see if the two sides can find common ground on the future of the 130,000 barrel a day Montreal East Refinery.
'For confidentiality reasons, Shell will not provide updates on details or progress of these conversations until it is appropriate to do so,' Shell added.
Shell has said it is prepared to sell the plant to Delek, an arm of Israel's Delek Group, for a price around C$150 million to C$200 million ($144 million to $192 million), if the would-be buyer can conduct a major maintenance run quickly enough and ensure it keeps supplying customers.
If the deal does not go through, Shell has said it wants to halt refinery operations and convert the site into a fuel terminal. It extended the search for buyers for nearly six months at the urging of the Quebec government, in an effort to save about 500 jobs.
($1=$1.04 Canadian)
(Reporting by Janet Guttsman, editing by Vicki Allen) Keywords: SHELL REFINERY (janet.guttsman@thomsonreuters.com; 416-941-8100: Reuters Messaging: janet.guttsman.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.