Hovensa LLC, the joint venture of Hess Corp. and Petroleos de Venezuela SA, has asked for an extension of the agreement that governs the established sales process of its shuttered 500,000-b/d refinery at St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, government officials confirmed.
The request for the latest extension was received on Aug. 29, according to a Sept. 2 release from the office of USVI Gov. John P. de Jongh Jr.
The governor, who agreed to a brief extension of the current sales process agreement, will attend a meeting later this week with Hovensa’s owners to discuss the agreement, the release said.
The St. Croix complex, which served as the Caribbean’s largest refinery until its shutdown in 2013 amid poor refining economics, has since operated as an oil storage terminal (OGJ Online, Jan. 18, 2012).
As a result of severe impacts to the economy of the USVI following the refinery’s closure, de Jongh proposed and signed into law a 14-month sales process agreement with Hovensa that would govern of the disposal of the company’s assets in a manner that would ensure the complex is once again a place of job creation and generation of tax revenues for the territory, according to a series of 2013 releases from de Jongh’s office.
The complex has a crude oil storage capacity of 32 million bbl, according to Hovensa.
