UPDATE: 25/01/2012 @ 22:35

Petroplus Provides Update Regarding Proceedings

ZUG, Switzerland–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jan. 25, 2012–

Regulatory News:

Petroplus Holdings AG (SIX: PPHN) today announced that it and its subsidiary in Switzerland, Petroplus Marketing AG, filed for composition proceedings (“Nachlassstundung”).

Petroplus also announced that its subsidiaries in Germany, Marimpex Mineralöl-Handelsgesellschaft mbH, Petroplus Deutschland GmbH, Petroplus Bayern GmbH, Petroplus Tankstorage Holding Deutschland GmbH and Petroplus Raffinerie Ingolstadt GmbH, which owns the Ingolstadt refinery, filed for insolvency proceedings. The Court today appointed Jaffé Rechtsanwälte Insolvenzverwalter as administrator for the assets of the above companies.

Petroplus further announced that its subsidiaries in France, Petroplus Holdings France SAS, Petroplus Marketing France SAS, Petroplus Raffinage Reichstett SAS and Petroplus Raffinage Petit-Couronne SAS, which owns the Petit Couronne refinery, filed for rehabilitation proceedings (“redressement judiciaire”). The Court today appointed FHB Administrateurs Judiciaires as administrator for the assets of some of the above companies.

Petroplus Holdings AG will provide further updates to the public as needed and further information regarding the proceedings will be provided on the Investor Relations section of our website at http://investors.petroplusholdings.com.

Source: Petroplus Holdings AG

Petroplus Holdings AG
Fredrik Olsson; +41 (0) 58 580 1244

The negotiations with the lenders under the Revolving Credit Facility have not been successful (despite the Company having reached an agreement for crude oil supply) and they have served notices of acceleration, commenced enforcement actions and appointed a receiver in respect of Petroplus Marketing AG’s assets in the UK. Such acceleration constitutes an event of default under the $1.75 billion aggregate principal amount of outstanding senior notes and convertible bonds of Petroplus Finance Limited. The primary goal of Petroplus’ Board of Directors is to ensure that operations are safely shut down and to preserve value for all stakeholders. The Board of Directors has resolved to prepare for a filing for insolvency or composition proceedings (“Nachlassstundung”) in Switzerland and will make the necessary filings as soon as possible. Similar steps are being taken by Petroplus subsidiaries in various jurisdictions. The filing of insolvency proceedings by any entity that is a guarantor of the senior notes, including Petroplus Holdings AG, Petroplus Refining and Marketing Ltd. and Petroplus Holdings France SAS, will result in an automatic acceleration of the senior notes.

Jean-Paul Vettier, Petroplus’ Chief Executive Officer, said, “It is unfortunate to have reached the point where the Executive Committee and Board of Directors have to inform our employees, shareholders, bondholders and other stakeholders about these circumstances. We have worked hard to avoid this outcome, but were ultimately not able to come to an agreement with our lenders to resolve these issues given the very tight and difficult European credit and refining markets. We are fully aware of the impact that this will have on our workforce, their families and the communities where we have operated our businesses.”

Further information will be communicated in due course.

Contact information:
Petroplus Holdings AG
Fredrik Olsson; +41 (0) 58 580 1244

Here in the office we were chatting about this the other day. Outside the weather was blistering hot so it wasn’t the most obvious time to think about central heating oil!

But our director Paul swears the summer months are the best months to stock up on oil. This is because oil prices tend to fall during the warm weather when… no surprises here… demand for heating oil drops.

The trouble is, when you’ve quite a few litres left in your tank and you’re only using heating oil to heat your hot water, you can be tempted to put it off until the weather gets colder.

But, just like buying petrol before the Budget duty hikes, the best thing to do is to stock up on oil while prices are still relatively low.

If you haven’t checked it out already, take a look at our Heating Oil Price graph. Every day we check the lowest 1,000 litre price of Kerosene 28 from all our heating oil suppliers. Then we log the minimum, maximum and average prices and put them on a graph on our website so you can track the change in oil prices and see if heating oil is going up or down.

Of course oil prices rise and fall like a roller coaster, but the general trend since the start of May 2010 is for heating oil prices to go down.

Obviously we can’t predict what heating oil will do over the summer… other things can affect oil prices; not just the weather… but historically oil prices usually go down.

Which is why our director, Paul, will be filling up his tank pretty soon.

When do you tend to top up with heating oil?

Basically, the plan would be for you to pay for your heating oil on a monthly payment basis so you build up a ‘Tank Account’ of savings to go towards each heating oil purchase.

It’s not a direct debit scheme; instead we’d charge your debit card with the same pre-agreed amount every month. You only need to tell us your debit card details once. And if you ever want to cancel, you can – at any time.

The great thing about a Heating Oil Savings Scheme is that it means you don’t have to pay for your oil in one go. And if your tank is particularly big, it could soften the blow quite a bit!

Also it makes sense to pay a smaller amount all year round rather than a hefty sum in the depths of winter when you suddenly realise you’re running low on heating oil – especially if that happens around Christmas.

How much you pay per month would be based on your annual heating oil usage to date divided by 12 – so unless your heating oil usage has decreased dramatically, there wouldn’t be any risk of you over paying. However if, come the end of the year, we find you have overpaid you’ll get the option to carry it forward to the next year or get a rebate.

But what else would you get out of us hanging on to your cash rather than it sitting in your bank account earning interest?

Perhaps we could give you an incentive – like offering a discount on heating oil prices to thank you for agreeing to pay monthly in advance. Or maybe you’ve some other ideas on how this could best work for you.

Our new Heating Oil Savings Scheme is still very much at ‘drawing board’ stage, so we’d welcome your suggestions on (a) whether you think it’s a good idea and (b) what (if any) incentives you’d like to see to encourage you to sign up for it.

What we don’t want to do is suddenly ‘dump’ a Heating Oil Savings Scheme onto you which isn’t what you want – or which you feel could be done differently or better. So we’d welcome your suggestions.

Over to you – we’re all ears!

Update: Thank you all for your comments. Based on your answers we have set up the Boilerjuice monthly savings scheme. Comments are now closed for this post.

The point is… should he (and all the other ‘fat cats’ out there) receive the same Winter Fuel Payment as my elderly neighbour who survives on a weekly state pension of just £97.6 and who struggles to pay his electricity and heating oil bills?

“No way!!!” I hear you shout. But of course that’s an extreme example.

Obviously if you are a pensioner struggling to survive on a state pension then winter fuel payments are vital to help towards your electricity, gas or heating oil. But many ‘ordinary’ pensioners still enjoy generous final salary schemes, so the additional money doesn’t make a great deal of difference to their lives.

So perhaps Winter Fuel Payments should be means tested, so poorer pensioners get more and wealthier pensioners get less – or nothing at all in the case of the ‘fat cats’.

But would the administrative costs involved eat up any savings? And would it mean yet more confusing form-filling for elderly people already bombarded with red tape? We’ve all heard stories of people failing to claim payments they are entitled to. I’d hate to think my neighbour was turning down his thermostat purely because bureaucracy had put him off claiming for a means tested Winter Fuel Payment.

Already, claiming Winter Fuel Payments isn’t as easy as you might think. There are several different amounts between £125 and £400, depending on when you were born, where you live and who you live with. Only people aged over 80 on or before 26^th September 2010 qualify for the full amount, but only if they live alone.

So add means testing to this already confusing equation and there’s a real risk that people won’t claim who need it most.

And there’s always the argument that the state pension isn’t means tested – so why should we means test fuel payments?

Most single people above pensionable age who’ve paid the right National Insurance contributions are entitled to a state pension. This means even multi-millionaires receive it. Just like the Winter Fuel Payment.

So maybe pensions should be means tested too? Or is that what the new Government has up its sleeve anyway…

Tumble Dryer

Why run up two sets of bills? Well that’s at least what these lot think. Instead of switching on their central heating they leave their tumble dryers running all day and then when they have reached a good level they open their doors and out flows a blast of heat.

Oven Hob

Probably one of the more dangerous ways, especially if you have kids. But what I have seen a lot of people do is open up their oven hobs and allow the heat to flow out of there. Again a very weird technique that will probably end up costing them more money.

Boiler Water and Dehumidifier

When I first witnessed this type of technique I was literally fascinated and just how silly people could be. These people used to leave the shower running and the kettle boiling to heat up a room, at the same time a Dehumidifier was running in the background which was pulling the moist out of the air. Crazy, absolutely crazy.

Mass Candles

Oh, the old candle trick is saved until last. Did you know that burning even 100 candles in a single room will not provide the necessary heat during the winter months, yet people still proceed with this technique.

Now, you may be asking why on earth they do all of this crazy stuff. It’s simply because they have somehow convinced themselves that they will be saving themselves money, when all they are going to be doing is spending even more money. Instead they should be using BoilerJuice to get the cheapest possible oil.

I would love to hear some of the stories you may have heard about or witnessed.