The St. Croix refinery in the US Virgin Islands, which went from being the world’s largest to being closed, is poised to see new life, capitalizing on the US shale boom that has boosted oil supply in the region.
Atlantic Basin Refining agreed to buy Hovensa, the company said in a statement. Hovensa’s refinery, which was shut down and converted into an oil storage terminal in February 2012, will process about 300,000 bpd of light oil when it reopens.
It will take as long as two years to start the refinery, the Virgin Islands government said in a statement. Hovensa’s return will add an oil buyer to a market where crude prices have fallen 25% in the past four months because of growing supply and weaker global demand. It may also bring more gasoline to the US East Coast, helping to reduce fuel prices for American drivers.
“The US shale revolution has created an abundant supply of US light sweet crude and there is currently a limited ability to process this type of feedstock at US refineries,” said Mark W. Eckard, Atlantic Basin’s managing director for legal and governmental affairs.
Hess Corp. built the refinery in 1966 and formed a joint venture with Petroleos de Venezuela SA in 1998 to create Hovensa. Hess expanded the plant to 650,000 bpd in 1974, making it the largest in the world. Operators reduced capacity in the years before shuttering it as the economic slowdown that began in 2007 reduced global fuel demand.
http://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/Article/3394682/Latest-News/St-Croix-refinery-to-reopen-under-new-ownership.html
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