“No third-party agreements have been signed yet, but several are in the negotiation process, and we expect to have them completed soon,” he said.

“There has been good interest in the site, and our people are responding,” he added.  Earlier this year, Valero decided to shut its 235,000-b/d Aruba refinery due to poor refining economics and heavy losses. Following the refinery shutdown, Valero planned to convert the refinery site to a world-scale crude and refined products terminal.

That Aruba refinery could produce only vacuum gasoil, high-sulfur diesel and jet fuel, but no gasoline. Diesel and jet fuel could be exported to Europe or South America, and VGO could be delivered to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Industry sources said that the Aruba terminal would appeal to arbitrage players and trading companies who need clean and dirty storage capacities for break-bulk and build-bulk purposes, similar to other major terminals in the Caribbean.

The Aruba terminal has around 6 million bbl of crude oil storage capacity and more than 7 million bbl of refined products storage capacity.

It has two large deepwater reef berths that can accommodate VLCCs for petroleum offloading, and four product loading docks as well as a dry cargo dock.

In September, Valero said that it will continue to supply jet fuel, gasoline, diesel and fuel oil to the island, as well as engage in third-party terminal services.

In this terminal operations mode, Valero will continue to be a significant employer in Aruba, and Valero will continue to invest in Aruba with facility improvements and dock and tankage upgrades.

On Sept. 3, Valero notified employees of Aruba refinery that Valero had decided to further reduce operations and reorganize the site as a refined products terminal.

Terminalling activities will require a considerably smaller workforce. The reorganization and reduction in workforce at Aruba is expected to be completed before the end of 2012.