Oil Refineries Announces Departure of CEO Pinhas Buchris

HAIFA, Israel, February 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Oil Refineries Ltd. (TASE: ORL.TA) (hereinafter "the Company,""ORL"), Israel's largest integrated refining and petrochemical group, announced that on February 26, 2013 the Company's Chief Executive Officer, Pinhas Buchris, requested of the Chairman of the Board, Akiva Mozes, to begin a search for a new CEO.

During his tenure as CEO, Mr. Buchris initiated a far reaching organizational restructuring and efficiency strategy, while completing the construction of the hydrocracker and integrating it with the Company's manufacturing processes, thus adapting the Company to the changes in the global energy market. These changes will serve as growth engines for the Company in the coming years and long term.

The Company's Chairman, Mr. Akiva Mozes, said this morning , "I thank Mr. Buchris for initiating this significant organizational restructuring and change in the Company's corporate culture.  His efforts will contribute greatly to ORL." Mozes added: "A search committee will be established as soon as possible by the Board of Directors to select a new CEO."

Mr. Buchris said he would continue to hold office and will give notice regarding the end of his term once an appropriate candidate has been found.  

About Oil Refineries Ltd.

Oil Refineries Ltd. (ORL), located in the bay area of the city of Haifa, operates Israel's largest integrated refining and petrochemical group. It is one of the leading refineries in the Eastern Mediterranean area and integrates, on-site, petrochemical businesses. ORL runs sophisticated and state-of-the-art industrial facilities with a refining capacity of 9.8 million tons of crude oil per year and a Nelson Complexity Index of 9, providing a variety of quality products used in industrial operation, transportation, private consumption, agriculture and infrastructure. Besides production of fuels, the company produces in its wholly owned subsidiaries Polymers (through Carmel Olefins Ltd), Aromatics (through Gadiv Petrochemical Industries Ltd), and Lube-Oils (through Haifa Basic Oils Ltd). The Company's shares are listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the ticker ORL. For additional information please visit http://www.orl.co.il.

ORL is controlled by the Israel Corporation Ltd. and Israel Petrochemical Enterprises Ltd., both public companies whose shares are traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

The above noted in this release includes forward-looking statements based on Company data, as well as Company plans and estimations based on this data. The activity, results and other data may be substantially different in reality given uncertainty and various risks, including those discussed under risk factors in the Company's financial statements and Director's repor

Company Contact:
Rony Solonicof
Chief Economist and Head of Investor Relations
Tel. +972-4-878-8152
Contact IREn@orl.co.il

Investor Relations Contact:
Ehud Helft / Porat Saar
CCG Israel
Tel. (US) +1-646-233-2161 / (Int.) +972-52-776-3687
info@ccgisrael.com