August 20, 2018 [Reuters] - A unit of Citgo Petroleum in September plans to resume long-delayed work to refurbish an idled, 235,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) oil refinery on Aruba, the Caribbean island’s government said on Wednesday.
Due to a lack of credit, Citgo Aruba Refining in February had slowed efforts at the plant amid U.S. financial sanctions imposed since 2017 on its parent company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
Under a $685-million project that was approved in 2016 by Aruba’s government in a 25-year lease contract, Citgo aims to revamp and restart a facility that has been idled since 2012 when the previous operator, U.S.-based Valero Energy, halted crude processing due to low profits.
Citgo declined to comment.
PDVSA and its subsidiaries are increasingly under pressure to gain access to a Caribbean terminal or a refinery since U.S. producer ConocoPhillips in May began seizing the company’s overseas assets to satisfy a $2 billion arbitration award.
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