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• Swiss-based refiner Petroplus Holdings AG (PPHN.EB) has started the process of finding a buyer for its refinery in the northern French town of Petit-Couronne, as its struggles to convince banks to unblock credit lines that would keep it afloat.The company is also "evaluating strategic alternatives" for two refineries it owns in Antwerp, Belgium, and in Cressier, Switzerland, after it decided to shut all three earlier this month when it ran out of cash and was unable to buy crude.Petroplus, which was already struggling with low margins and low demand for its products as a result of a general overcapacity and a slowing economy in Europe, saw its situation worsen when banks gradually froze all credit lines in late December and early January.

• Since then, the company has been negotiating with its banks--which include Societe Generale, ING Groep, BNP Paribas, Rabobank and Natixis--to reopen the credit tap but to little avail. A temporary deal with the banks is due to expire later Friday, and Petroplus's Chief Executive Jean-Paul Vettier has previously said that without an extension of credit lines the company will have to file for bankruptcy. Petroplus operates two other refineries, one in Germany and one in the U.K., which are operating at minimum levels, according to earlier statements.In a radio interview Friday, French Energy Minister Eric Besson said he will meet Vettier later in the day to discuss the search for a buyer, and said the government has already approached potential suitors, although he didn't name any. French oil major Total SA (TOT) Friday said it isn't interested in buying any of the Petroplus refineries.

• "Our priority is to maintain the industrial activity in Petit-Couronne, you know a refinery cannot be halted for too long so our goal is to resume activity as soon as possible," he said.The government is following the situation at Petit-Couronne very closely; President Nicolas Sarkozy can ill-afford the closure of a plant that employs 550 people just three months ahead of the presidential election's first round, after pledging this week to focus on quelling an unemployment rate that stands at a near 12-year high. On top of that, the Petit-Couronne is the fourth refinery being idled in France since 2009.Petroplus said it safely shut its Cressier refinery, although workers at Petit-Couronne and Antwerp are blocking refined products from leaving.Yvon Scornet, a leader of the CGT labor union at Petit-Couronne, said the workers currently hold EUR200 million worth of refined products at the refinery.

• Scornet also said that the union is participating in the search for a buyer, and said the workers want any potential buyer to commit new investments to make the refinery competitive. He declined to specify which companies were approached.If the sale process fails, the dismantling of the refinery would lead to heavy "depollution" costs, Scornet said. Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA), which sold the refinery to Petroplus in 2008, might have to pay for part of the cleaning, Scornet said. Shell officials weren't immediately available for comment.

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