Aruba renews initiative to restart San Nicolas refinery

The Aruban government and its wholly owned Refineria di Aruba NV (RdA) have initiated the process to attract a new operator, as well as new investors, for former Valero Energy Corp.’s 235,000-b/d refinery and terminal in San Nicolas, Aruba, following official termination in early 2020 of a previous deal with Citgo Petroleum Corp.’s Citgo Aruba Refinery NV for the refinery’s proposed restart (OGJ Online, Mar. 3, 2020; ).

On June 8, Aruba’s Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes and RdA issued a two-tiered request for expression of interest (REOI) inviting experienced and qualified parties interested in reviving the mothballed refinery and its associated assets to respond with required documentation by July 17, the Aruban government told OGJ via e-mail on July 1.

The two REOI processes (REOI 1, REOI 2), which the government and RdA will conduct simultaneously, outline three key requirements by which eligible interested parties must agree to abide regarding the refinery’s operations, stipulating that all future activity should:

• Be aimed at making a significant contribution to the Aruban economy and labor market.
• Observe local regulations and industry best practices on environment, health, and safety.
• Observe the Kingdom of the Netherlands foreign affairs policy as well as the economic and trade sanctions maintained by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The two-tracked REOI 1 is seeking parties interested in resuming oil processing activity at the site via leasing and operating its existing installations and-or modernizing those installations (Track a); as well as parties interested in advancing additional industrial developments—such as LNG transshipment, petrochemical installations, alternative clean industry initiatives, renewable energies, etc.— at locations still available within the refinery area (Track b).

REOI 2, however, has invited parties interested in repurposing the aging refinery by replacing existing installations and establishing entirely new industries at the site.

All interested parties must submit their respondent forms to the Aruban government by July 17 at 11:00 a.m. UTC-4. The government said it plans to announce results of this first phase of the refinery restart process by Aug. 14.

Alongside the 235,000-b/d San Nicolas refinery and 3.75 sq m of long lease land, RdA’s other assets at the site also include:

• A transshipment terminal with a storage capacity of 10.7 million bbl and two tugboats.
• 13 million bbl of total storage capacity.
• Two reef berths, each with a capacity to handle an ultra large crude carrier.

RdA and Citgo’s official early-2020 termination of the failed operating agreement followed Citgo’s October 2019 return to the Aruban government of rights to seek other interested parties to operate the terminal and refinery after Citgo was forced to halt work on its originally planned $715-million rehabilitation program of the San Nicolas assets due to lack of funds in the wake of US sanctions placed on parent company Petroleos de Venezuela SA earlier in the year (OGJ Online, Feb. 26, 2019; Oct. 11, 2016; June 13, 2016).