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The manager of Petroplus Holdings AG's Coryton refinery in Essex, United Kingdom, is due to meet representatives of British trade union Unite on Thursday, following the recent withdrawal by banks of the company's credit lines.

At the meeting, Coryton manager, Jon Barden, is expected to discuss with union representatives the current situation at the plant now that the company is unable to purchase additional crude to run its refineries following the loss of its credit lines.

Petroplus, Europe’s largest independent refiner, was forced to shut its Petit Couronne (France) and Antwerp (Belgium) plants after all its credit lines were frozen in early January. In addition, the Cressier plant in Switzerland is expected to run out of crude oil stocks during the second half of this month.

Of the company's two remaining refineries, the 240,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Coryton plant is currently processing only 100,000 bpd, or 42 percent, whilst the 110,000 bpd Ingolstadt facility in Germany is running at around 60,000 bpd, or 55 percent.

The crisis at Petroplus follows a series of quarterly losses over the last two years. Last week the Switzerland-headquartered refiner disclosed that its lenders, a group of 13 international banks, had refused to renew a $1 billion credit facility, which the company badly needed to supply its refineries with crude oil.

Since then, the company has been negotiating with its banks, which include Societe Generale, ING Groep, BNP Paribas, Rabobank and Natixis.

"Our main concern is for the 2,500 employees of the group, which is why we want to make everything possible to avoid filing for bankruptcy,” CEO Jean-Paul Vettier told reporters on Thursday after a meeting with French government officials.

In a statement released by Petroplus last Thursday, the company said that it would hold another meeting with its lenders with the aim to secure necessary funding and liquidity arrangements to enable the company to meet its current and future financial obligations.

"The negotiations involve reviewing strategic options and securing other sources of liquidity," Petroplus said.

On Monday, French Industry Minister, Eric Besson, confirmed that banks had eventually agreed to finance the company for a few days to allow the acquisition of crude.

Meanwhile, Vettier has also confirmed that the company has been seeking other alternatives such as support from an unnamed oil producing company that could bring crude and financing.

However, this scenario may be unlikely given that the trend in recent years for oil majors has been to divest from the oil refining business and to invest instead in the more lucrative upstream market.