L&T Recoil Oy and its then joint venture partner EcoStream opened a 45 million (now U.S. $62.2 million) rerefinery in 2009. With 1,200 b/d (60,000 metric tons per year) of API Group II capacity, the plant was fed by used lubricants collected within the Nordic and Baltic countries and Finland.

“Our plans are to produce rerefined API Group II base oil — 45,000 tons per year,” Juha Kokko, managing director of Industrial Finance Finland STR Ltd., told Lube Report. The rerefinery will start operations during the fourth quarter of 2014, Kokko said.

L&T Recoil Oys bankruptcy estate signed an agreement with Industrial Finance Finland STR Ltd. on July 25. The bankruptcy estate is of the opinion that the sale will have a positive employment effect, as Industrial Finance Finland STR Ltd. plans to restart production in Hamina, the estate said in a news release provided by estate administrator Pauliina Tenhunen, an attorney with Helsinki-based law firm Castren & Snellman Attorneys Ltd. Before the Helsinki District Court declared the company bankrupt March 31, L&T Recoil Oy employed about 50 people.

Since the bankruptcy of L&T Recoil Oy commenced, the bankruptcy estate has maintained minimum activities at the facility in order to ensure its functionality and safety and to restart production as seamlessly as possible in case a potential new operator is found, the estate stated. In collaboration with the main creditors, the bankruptcy estate has engaged in active negotiations during the summer with several interested parties on the sale of the production facility.

Finnish rerefiner L&T Recoil Oy and parent company EcoStream Ltd. filed for bankruptcy at the end of March, and the estate administrator then began seeking buyers for assets, including the rerefinery.