On Saturday, Philip Rinaldi dug into a plate of linguine
Alfredo served at a South Philadelphia union banquet hall, where the chief
executive officer of Philadelphia Energy Solutions L.L.C. was among the guests
of honor.
At the banquet, Rinaldi received an award from United
Steelworkers Local 10-1 for saving the jobs of hundreds of their members last
year.
His company bought refineries in South Philadelphia from
Sunoco Inc. after it said it was getting out of the oil-refining business and
selling - or shutting - its 1,500-acre facility on the Schuylkill.
"This was not a rescue," Rinaldi said. "The
result of it was a rescue, but that wasn't the purpose. We came here with a
mission to make a good business."
Question: What's your vision for its future?
Answer: The real future lies in the development of
facilities and businesses that are compatible with, but not conventionally
associated with, crude refining. These could include facilities to convert
nonconventional feedstocks into conventional refined products as well as
building investments to add value to low-cost Marcellus Shale gas such as
agricultural chemicals like urea ammonium nitrate, diesel emission control
chemicals, methanol.
Q: You've built a career in finding the value in businesses
soon to be abandoned. What did you see in the Sunoco refinery that others
missed?
A: I think it's obvious. We have two oil refineries that are
well-configured. They occupy 1,400 acres of property 10 minutes from the center
of a major American city.
Q: And?
A: They have river access to two rivers. They have rail,
highways, infrastructure. The place is completely permitted for heavy industry.
Where on earth are you going to replace that? This is worth taking a look at
and seeing whether there's a better way to run the business.
Q: Do you see yourself as a turnaround expert?
A: Sometimes I call myself an industrialist. It's an
old-fashioned word from a century ago, but I like that, because I think that
you have to make things. I don't think we can have a society that just flips
hamburgers. I'm kind of a serial entrepreneur in the energy, chemical,
natural-resource space.
Q: You are in management, yet you are getting an award from
a union. Many of your fellow executives despise unions. What's your attitude?
A: It's not my view that the union, by its presence, is a
bad thing. There are certainly bad unions - there are unions who behave badly.
There are managements who behave badly too.
Q: What about Local 10-1?
A: This union here happens to be a very nice union. They are
trying to make their lives better and make this business work. They understand
that in order for them to prosper as individuals, the entity has to prosper.
We're just trying to create some prosperity here.
Q: What would surprise people about you?
A: My age, if I let them know it.
Q: Anything else?
A: I did have a rock-and-roll band in high school - the
Thunderbolts. I played the guitar.
Q: Did you sing?
A: Yeah, like Joe Cocker, with no talent. I sing in the car
with my grandkids, because it drives them crazy.
Q: What do you sing?
A: Verdi's Questo o Quella. I'm an opera aficionado.
PHILIP RINALDI
Title: Partner, chief executive, Philadelphia Energy
Solutions.
Weekends: Central Jersey.
Weeknights: Center City.
Family: Wife, Susan; children, Marcus, 34, Julian, 30.
Diplomas: New Jersey Institute of Technology, bachelor's and
master's in chemical engineering.
Resumé: Investor or executive in heavy industries. Past
stints at Coffeyville Resources, Philbro Resources Corp., Seminole Fertilizer
Corp., Exxon.
On the side: Chairman, Board of Overseers, New Jersey
Institute of Technology; founding member, Opera New Jersey.
PHILA. ENERGY SOLUTIONS
Business: Oil refining.
Locations: Girard Point, Point Breeze, both in South
Philadelphia.
Ownership: Privately held partnership - Caryle Group, Sunoco
Inc.
Output: 330,000 barrels per day, converting some to 6.7
million gallons of gasoline, 5.8 million gallons of diesel fuel.
Employees: 940,
150 contractors.
Source: Philly.com
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