Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Break-up of Swiss Tamoil refinery begins

Collombey oil refinery
The refinery once processed 55,000 barrels of oil per day. Keystone / Martin Ruetschi

Work has started on dismantling the Tamoil refinery in southwestern Switzerland after efforts to find a new buyer came to nothing.

The Collombey site, which once employed 238 people in the region processing 55,000 barrels of oil a day, announced it would close in 2015. Its closure left Switzerland with one remaining oil refinery, also in the French-speaking part of the country, but owned by a different company.

The Collombey refinery operated as part of the Dutch-based holding company, Oilinvest (Netherlands) BV, which in turn is owned by Libyan state corporations. The refinery has suffered significant financial losses in the years leading up to its closure.

Efforts to sell the site included an ambitious plan by a local entrepreneur to build a sustainable Winter Olympics village. As none of these ideas came to fruition the area will now be converted into a business park.

Dismantling the site will take until 2025. Tamoil Switzerland director Stéphane Trachsler says that 95% of the facilities will be recycled.

The cost of this work has not been made public, but the company has provided a CHF10 million ($10.8 million) financial guarantee to the local authorities, according to Swiss public broadcaster RTS.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

No Swiss bank in phase with environmental objectives

More

Swiss banks failing environment, says WWF

This content was published on None of the 15 major Swiss retail banks is meeting international climate and biodiversity targets, according to a ranking by WWF Switzerland.

Read more: Swiss banks failing environment, says WWF
UNRWA provides emergency assistance to just over one million Palestine refugees, or about 75 per cent of all Palestine refugees in Gaza, who lack the financial means to cover their basic food.

More

Lazzarini: no alternative to UNRWA in Gaza

This content was published on The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency’s work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, told reporters in Geneva on Monday.

Read more: Lazzarini: no alternative to UNRWA in Gaza

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR