Swiss independent refiner and wholesaler Petroplus Holdings has received permission from the European Commission for its proposed acquisition of two French refineries from the energy giant Royal Dutch Shell, according to Thomson Financial, which cited the commission's statement.
Thomson Financial reported that the acquisitions were reviewed under the EU’s simplified merger process, as the commission believed that the transaction did not have regulatory issues.
The Petit Couronne refinery is located 130km northwest of Paris while the Reichstett Vendenheim refinery is in Alsace. The refineries reportedly have a combined capacity of more than 220,000 barrels of crude oil per day, according to Thomson Financial.
Petroplus had earlier stated that that the acquisition will increase its throughput capacity to 864,000 barrels per day.