Former refinery chief Philip Rinaldi wants an encore, launches campaign to restart bankrupt Philadelphia fuel complex
Rinaldi, 73, who headed the company that revived the 1,300-acre complex in 2012 when previous owner Sunoco exited refining, has expressed an interest in coming out of retirement to rescue the plant that was his personal project for seven years. With extensive connections to the business and political leaders, to energy-industry executives, and to the refinery's labor union, Rinaldi becomes the front-runner to assume ownership of the largest refinery on the
"My focus and drive in pursuing this acquisition is to revitalize, modernize, and develop the site and the strategic refinery business that has existed there for decades to their full potential," Rinaldi said in a statement. "We can reinvigorate the site as an economic juggernaut that generates billions of dollars of revenue and provides thousands of high-paying jobs for our skilled professional and labor workforce."
Rinaldi's new company,
The closure of the refinery -- which employed 1,100 people but was also the city's single-largest source of air pollution -- had inspired a flurry of speculation among various interest groups over reviving the property as a refinery or re-imagining the 150-year-old manufacturing site in a new clean-energy role.
Rinaldi's partnership with a renewable fuel manufacturer is unlikely to assuage local environmentalists and community groups, who had dubbed the self-proclaimed industrialist as "Fossil Phil" when he led a
Rinaldi on Monday declined to comment on the bid, saying he was constrained by a non-disclosure agreement with the current owners.
Several other companies have shown interest in the shuttered refinery, including
Owning and operating a refinery is not for the faint of heart, nor for those without resources. Refining oil can be lucrative when demand and fuel prices are high, but it is a cyclical industry where profit margins can evaporate for long stretches, while the plant still requires millions of dollars just for maintenance.
Rinaldi and other former refinery executives still hold a 2.7 percent share of Philadelphia Energy Solutions after it emerged from bankruptcy a year ago, only to sink again under the weight of a heavy debt load and a a reliance on expensive crude oil. When the June fire forced the refinery to close, the owners quickly declared bankruptcy again.
PES now is owned primarily by its former creditors.
When Rinaldi assumed the helm at PES in 2012, he expressed a vision for transforming the refinery complex into a diverse collection of energy-related businesses fueled partly by the
The company's biggest achievement was to build a massive rail yard where North American crude oil, transported by train, could be rapidly unloaded. The access to discounted crude oil from the Dakotas turned out to be a short-lived boost to the refinery's fortunes, until the oil became too expensive to transport by rail.
Rinaldi's statement Wednesday contained echoes of his 2012 vision, including aspirations for additional development opportunities for the site.
"I understand that the energy industry is undergoing an evolution, which is why a major part of my focus is on implementing a holistic, sustainable, and sensitive approach to operations on the site with the goal of making the facility the industrial pride of
"The business model that we are putting together -- which includes identifying additional development opportunities for the site where we see synergistic relationships -- will enable the refinery site to be profitable while increasing our focus on green and renewable energy," he said. "RNG Energy is already moving forward with an excellent renewable energy project on the site, and we want to work with the company on similar, future innovations."
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