
How the refinery shutdowns impacted Louisville refinery workers
The closure of Haldia Petrochemical’s Kentucky refinery in Louisville is leaving thousands of workers without jobs.
The company says it’s been unable to find a buyer for its assets.
(CBC) Haldiac is the French oil and chemical giant that is headquartered in Paris and supplies chemicals to other countries.
It has been operating in the Louisville area since the 1980s and is the biggest producer of petrochlorinated hydrocarbons, or CFCs, in the world.
The facility is the second-largest CFC production plant in the country, behind only the Canadian company Sinopec in Montreal.
The plant is also a major supplier of petroleum-based chemicals to U.S. refineries.
Haldicos main source of revenue is oil and gas.
The refinery is owned by two companies.
One is the U.K.-based company Siemens, which is headquartered here.
The other is an Italian company called Haldica.
It operates the plant on behalf of the company that owns Haldiac.
The shutdown of Haldeys facilities, which began in May, has affected a number of employees, according to a spokesperson for the company.
The spokesperson said about 5,000 workers at the refinery were laid off, while another 5,500 were laid-off as part of the shutdown.
The workers were being transferred to other jobs at the company, the spokesperson said.
The spokesman said it’s not yet known how many workers are on the other side of the world, although some have been reported to be in Europe.