Liquidation of Moroccan refinery Samir extended - administrator

RABAT, March 23 (Reuters) - A Moroccan court has granted an extra month for the liquidation process for Samir, the country's only oil refinery, a court-appointed trustee said on Thursday.

The 200,000 barrels a day refinery was shut down in August due to financial difficulties and a court ruling then placed it in liquidation and named an independent trustee to run it.

The deadline for the liquidation process has been extended several times.

In February, the court-appointed trustee, Mohamed El-Krimi, said he had received about 20 offers from foreign investors, ahead of a March 10 deadline.

He declined to comment on Thursday on the status of offers, and did not say when the latest deadline for the liquidation process would end.

Samir's closure has made Morocco reliant on oil product imports at a time when the North African kingdom is seeking to get its finances back on track by tackling huge budget deficits.

Samir, in which Saudi billionaire Mohammed al-Amoudi's Corral Holdings had a 67.26 percent stake, has been battling creditors ranging from oil traders to banks.

Court-appointed experts value the company at 21.6 billion dirhams ($2.1 billion). (Reporting by Samia Errazzouki; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Alexander Smith)