The fate of the largest East Coast oil refinery is set to be decided on Friday in an auction that could determine whether the Philadelphia plant is restarted or used for a different purpose for the first time in over a century, Reuters reported. The refinery’s owner, Philadelphia Energy Solutions, is scheduled to reveal the winning bidder on Wednesday during a hearing at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, which will need to approve the sale. PES filed for bankruptcy on July 21, a month after a fire and explosions destroyed a portion of its 335,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery complex. It wound down the roughly 150-year-old plant and laid off hundreds of workers over the following weeks. The PES site located less than three miles (5 km) from downtown Philadelphia has also attracted bids from several real estate developers. One of the groups proposed to model itself after the Philadelphia’s Navy Yard, which was turned into a campus for company headquarters, including clothing retailer Urban Outfitters, while operating a section for commercial shipping. Most of the bids from real estate developers involved keeping the site as an industrial operation.
