Limetree Bay restarts long-idled St. Croix refinery

EIG Global Energy Partners-controlled Limetree Bay Ventures LLC has completed its long-planned restart of an idled refinery previously owned and operated by Hovensa LLC at Limetree Bay on St. Croix, USVI (OGJ Online, July 10, 2018; Jan. 8, 2016; Sept. 21, 2015).

Now operated by Limetree Bay Refining LLC and equipped with a crude oil processing capacity of more than 200,000 b/d, the renovated refinery has officially resumed operations and started production as well as commercial sales of refined products, Limetree and EIG said in Feb. 1 releases.

Configured to process a mix of feedstocks—including a growing supply of Latin American sour crudes—to fulfill rising demand for transportation fuels in the Caribbean, Central and South America, and the US East Coast, the newly commissioned refinery also will produce low-sulfur fuels that comply with International Maritime Organization (IMO) mandates that took effect in 2020, according to Limetree.

“The restart of a refinery is a complicated endeavor, requiring a first-class team of employees and contractors and a collaborative partnership between business and government,” said Jeffrey Rinker, Limetree Bay’s chief executive officer.

“We have been able to restart operations due to the continued perseverance and efforts of our business partners, employees, investors and local government officials, overcoming challenges including Hurricane Maria and the [coronavirus (COVID-19)] pandemic,” Rinker added.

Official startup of the refinery’s crude processing and fuel production activities follows preliminary commissioning events in January that led to increased flaring and louder-than-usual noise levels at the site, according to a Jan. 14 release from Limetree.

Commissioning of the revamped refinery follows key modernization works at the site that began in 2018, including upgrades to a 62,000-b/d delayed coker unit, extensive desulfurization capacity, and a reformer unit to enable production of clean, low-sulfur marine transportation fuels conforming to IMO 2020 standards (OGJ Online, Sept. 26, 2019).

Hovensa idled the San Croix refinery and transitioned the site into an oil storage terminal in early 2012 to prevent further financial losses resulting from what the then-operator termed the manufacturing site’s “competitive disadvantage” (OGJ Online, Jan. 18, 2012).