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Oil company to lease Koppers plant

By WARREN SCOTT

The Weirton Daily Times

FOLLANSBEE, W.Va.  — News of a new use for the Follansbee Koppers plant has left many questions unanswered.

Officials with Koppers Inc. have announced they will be leasing the company’s Follansbee plant to ORV Fuels LLC for use as a light crude oil distillation facility.

A press release from Koppers states ORV will have 24 months to convert the plant for its use, with Koppers collecting an undisclosed amount of rent and royalties from the company.

Plans call for the plant to cease operations involving the refining of naphthalene in about a year, after which the facility will serve as a distribution point for Koppers while being leased by ORV.

Koppers President and Chief Executive Officer Leroy Ball said, “The pending conversion of our Follansbee plant to a distribution terminal is the result of our strategy to have one fully integrated chemical processing plant in Stickney, Ill., in order to greatly improve our safety, environmental and operating performance.

“This agreement with ORV Fuels represents an important first step towards repurposing our distillation assets at Follansbee which will allow us to minimize asset demolition and disposal costs, salvage jobs for the northern West Virginia panhandle and recoup some value over time for our assets.”

The length of the lease and the number who will be employed for the distribution operation and number who may be employed by ORV wasn’t stated.

City Manager John DeStefano said Thursday he had little information about the development but was hopeful the development would ensure the plant’s future and preserve jobs as well as generating tax revenue for the city.

“The good thing is the place isn’t being boarded up or torn down. There are some positive things to come out of this,” he said, adding he looks forward to hearing from ORV officials in the future.

Built in 1914 by the American Tar Products Co., the Koppers plant is one of Follansbee’s oldest employers.

Koppers officials had indicated in 2014 the company might move operations at the Follansbee plant to the Stickney facility and said that move could come last year.

The consolidation was expected to reduce the Follansbee plant’s staff of about 45.

Naphthalene is a hydrocarbon used to make moth repellents, certain dyes and other organic compounds.

It is one of various carbon materials and chemicals produced by the Follansbee plant from coal tar, a product of the production of coke from the adjacent coke ovens.

Coke is coal baked for use in the production of aluminum, steel, plastics, resins, treated wood and rubber products.

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