The acquisition of the assets of the Irish National Petroleum Corporation (INPC) by US oil group Tosco will go ahead, despite Tosco's takeover by Phillips Petroleum.
"We expect it to go through as planned," said a spokeswoman for Phillips. "It will be part of the acquisition."
INPC chief executive Mr Paddy Power said he did not envisage any changes as a result of the Phillips/Tosco deal. "Everything is proceeding as normal," he said.
Officials at the Department of Public Enterprise are also confident the sale will go ahead. "Negotiations are still ongoing. Of course, we are assessing the situation in light of the Phillips takeover but our understanding is that Phillips is happy to proceed," said a spokesman. The continuity of management in the enlarged Phillips, with Mr Thomas O'Malley, Tosco's chief executive, heading up Phillips' enlarged refining business, is also being viewed as positive for the INPC deal.
Tosco is buying the Whitegate refinery in Co Cork and the oil storage facility on Whiddy Island in Bantry Bay from INPC for $100 million (€107 million).
Announcing its results last month, Tosco said it expected the deal to be concluded in the first quarter of this year. It is understood that due diligence on the assets of INPC by Tosco has been completed and the broad outline of the deal agreed.
INPC staff are seeking a 15 per cent stake in the State-owned company for their support for the takeover by Tosco. Based on the $100 million the US company is offering to pay for the Irish group's assets, the 223 INPC employees could get windfalls worth up to €72,000 each.
Unions are known to favour an employee share ownership plan (ESOP) similar to the one put in place at Eircom, then Telecom Eireann, at the time of its flotation. However, they had received no indication from the Department on whether such a scheme would be implemented, the union official said.
If an ESOP is not possible, unions will look for an ex-gratia payment like that made to Cablelink employees when it was sold to NTL. Cablelink staff received about £40,000 each.
