ArcLight Capital Partners, a private equity firm, has reached a deal with the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) to reopen the Hovensa refinery on St. Croix, one of the world’s largest oil refineries. The refinery stopped operations in 2012.
The refinery will be refurbished over the next 18 months and is scheduled to commence operations at the end of 2019. The initial refining operations provide for the processing of approximately 200,000 barrels of crude oil feedstock per day.
“This agreement is great news for the people of the Virgin Islands as we continue to grow and expand our economy,” said USVI Governor Kenneth Mapp.
“This landmark deal to jumpstart our recovery and to pave the road to better times…requires us to move expeditiously if the refinery is to restart on schedule,” he said. “I look forward to working with members of the Legislature and our partners at Limetree Bay to realise its potential for the benefit of all of our people.”
According to industry experts and consultants Gaffney, Cline and Associates, the government expects to receive more than $600m over the first 10 years of the restart of the refining operations. This income is in addition to the $11.5m currently flowing to the government from the oil storage terminal each year.
For more information, visit: www.arclightcapital.com
6th July 2018
