Bankrupt Petroplus climate payments ‘non-refundable’

Petroplus went bankrupt after banks pulled the plug on financing Keystone

Climate fund payments made to now-bankrupt Swiss oil refiner Petroplus cannot be reclaimed by creditors as they constituted a business arrangement that brought benefits to contributors as opposed to a gift. This ruling from Zurich’s highest court has stopped a CH15 million ($16 million) claim in its tracks, barring an appeal to the federal courts.

In its heyday, the Zug-based Petroplus was Europe’s largest independent refiner by capacity.

But it has been in administration proceedings since 2012 when it entered into liquidation, selling its plant in Cressier, canton Neuchâtel, to a joint venture consortium between Vitol Group and AtlasInvest. Creditors have been trying to claim back contributions to the Swiss Climate Cent FoundationExternal link, a structure set up by the Swiss government to raise funds to be spent on climate protection measures abroad.

Creditors argued unsuccessfully that the Petroplus contributions to the fund should be returned to the bankrupt company’s estate to be distributed back to fuel importers.

However, the Zurich court upheld an earlier verdict from a lower court in the canton denying the claim. In its verdict, the court said that fuel importers knew they stood to benefit from the Climate Cent fund because it staved off direct climate taxes on fuels.

Furthermore, the court said the fuel importers had already passed on the cost of these payments to their customers.

But the court did conclude that the last CHF1 million payments should be refunded by the Climate Cent Foundation as they should never have been paid by Petroplus in 2012. By this stage, the company knew that it was in serious financial difficulty.

Creditors have the option of appealing the decision to the federal courts.