September 28, 2016 [Reuters] - Aruba's parliament late on Tuesday approved a law that permits the reactivation of the Caribbean island's 235,000 barrel-per-day refinery, operated by Citgo Petroleum, the U.S. unit of cash-strapped Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.
The parliament’s pronouncement is the final stage before activity can be initiated after operations were halted in 2012 as the refinery was not making enough money.
The president of Aruba’s parliament, Mervin Wyatt-Ras, called it an “historic meeting” after the two-day discussion ended with 19 votes in favor and one against.
Internal documents seen by Reuters showed that Citgo had asked cash-strapped PDVSA to provide initial funding of $100 million for the required $685 million renovation project.
