Irving Oil Starts Review That Puts Key Oil Assets on Market

Irving Oil Ltd., the operator of Canada’s largest crude refinery, is reviewing strategic options that may include putting some key North American refining and distribution assets up for sale.

(Bloomberg) — Irving Oil Ltd., the operator of Canada’s largest crude refinery, is reviewing strategic options that may include putting some key North American refining and distribution assets up for sale.

Other options include a change in the portfolio of its assets and how it operates them, though “no decisions have been made about where this strategic review may lead,” the company said on its website Wednesday. 

The strategic review raises the possibility that some important North American downstream facilities may change hands. Irving’s refinery in New Brunswick has the capacity to process 320,000 barrels of oil a day and supplies gasoline to much of the US Northeast as well as eastern Canada. Irving also runs more than 900 filling stations in eastern Canada and New England, a refinery in Ireland and sells heating oil and propane.

The Irvings are one of Canada’s wealthiest families — famous for their secrecy and their control of natural resources in the eastern part of the country, particularly the province of New Brunswick. Arthur Irving, whose signature is on Wednesday’s statement, is the country’s 16th-richest person with a net worth of $5.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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