Come By Chance Refinery was a crude oil refinery operated by North Atlantic Refining in Come By Chance,

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, Canada. It has a refining capacity of . The plant is undergoing conversion to a biofuel operation.

History

The refinery was built by

John Shaheen John M. Shaheen (1915 in Lee County, Illinois – 1 November 1985 in New York) was an American financier and businessman. He had been involved in oil and life insurance. Career Prior to World War II, Shaheen worked in publicity in Chicago. During ...

's Shaheen Resources from 1971 to 1973, with the help of British company Procon Limited, for $155 million. The refinery began operation in December 1973 until the refinery went bankrupt in 1976, with Shaheen Resources owing about $500 million.The Come By Chance Oil Refinery
Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage After four years of inactivity, the refinery was purchased by

Petro-Canada Petro-Canada is a retail and wholesale marketing brand subsidiary of Suncor Energy. Until 1991, it was a federal Crown corporation (a state-owned enterprise). In August 2009, Petro-Canada merged with Suncor Energy, with Suncor shareholders rec ...

for $10 million in 1980, but decided against reactivation, and instead sold the refinery to Bermuda-based refinery Newfoundland Processing Ltd. for $1 in 1986, which reopened it the following year. In August 1994, the

Vitol Group Vitol is a Swiss-based multinational energy and commodity trading company that was founded in Rotterdam in 1966 by Henk Viëtor and Jacques Detiger. Though trading, logistics and distribution are at the core of its business, these are complemente ...

purchased the refinery and the operating company North Atlantic Refining was founded. In 2014, it was acquired by SilverRange Capital Partners, a New York-based alternative asset manager. On May 28, 2020,

Irving Oil Irving Oil Ltd. is a Canadian gasoline, oil, and natural gas producing and exporting company. Considered part of the Irving Group of Companies, it was founded by entrepreneur K.C. Irving, Kenneth "K.C." Irving and is privately owned by his son, A ...

announced that it was in negotiations to purchase the refinery. On October 5, 2020, the sale to Irving Oil collapsed and it was announced that the Come By Chance refinery would close permanently. In November 2021, the U.S. private equity group Cresta Fund Management purchased a controlling stake of the idling refinery and announced plans to convert the plant to a biofuel operation. As part of the acquisition, the refinery was renamed to Braya Renewable Fuels. On September 2, 2022. There was a massive explosion in the refinery which injured 8 workers, one of whom died in hospital on October 15th. The cause of the explosion is currently under investigation.

References

External links

North Atlantic Refining
Oil refineries in Canada Buildings and structures in Newfoundland and Labrador {{Newfoundland-stub