Interesting News on St. Croix Refinery

That loan closed in Feb. likely you are seeing the tank work that has been on going since the transfer of ownership. I would expect no announcements regarding the return to limited refining until June

The crane work over the units was a fair distance from the tanks. Interesting though!

That loan closed in Feb. likely you are seeing the tank work that has been on going since the transfer of ownership. I would expect no announcements regarding the return to limited refining until June

Listen to Jane! She knows.

(tu)

CD

Good News!

440mil... that seems like a good portion of the plant will be restored... I wonder if they need an IT guy.....

Can someone copy and paste the story? I don't feel like registering on that site to be able to read it. thanks!

http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/id=1202783389341/Duane-Morris-Team-Leads-440M-Loan-for-St-Croix-Refinery-Site?slreturn=20170313104327

$440MM isn't a lot to restart a refinery thats been idle for 5 years (Though not sure what if anything Limetree's putting into the plant).

It will be interesting to see their plan

Lime Tree originally indicated that they wanted to add additional storage capacity to the facility. The article indicates that the loan is to "re-purpose" the refinery - which adding additional tanks would be. That amount of $$$ would probably cover removal of some old refinery equipment and installation of storage tanks. If the words used were "restart" - then I would think they might want to resume some operations (at one time they did consider restarting the Naphtha Unit - the first stage in refinery operations).

Here's the whole article:

Duane Morris Team Leads $440M Loan for St. Croix Refinery Site

When a former Hess Corp. oil refinery in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, shut down in 2012, the closing devastated the Caribbean island economy.

But new activity at the site has begun, and two lawyers in Duane Morris' Miami office represented Barclays Bank PLC in a $440 million loan transaction to bring the complex back on line, albeit repurposed.

The complex isn't expected to ever rehire the up to 5,000 people, including contractors, it once employed. But the transaction brings hope to thousands on the island still suffering from the economic downturn set off by the shutdown.

Limetree Bay Terminals LLC, a portfolio company of the ArcLight Capital hedge fund, bought the oil terminal at auction in late 2015. Duane Morris' client, Barclays Bank, together with Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc., were lead arrangers and book runners on the $440 million term loan for Limetree.

For Duane Morris Miami partner Miles Plaskett, a native of St. Croix, working on the transaction had a "definite personal element." He and partner Scott Andrew advised Barclays on U.S. Virgin Islands law, conducted due diligence on real estate issues and prepared financing and securities documentation for the transaction.

The deal runner for Barclays was a team from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy.
The firm representing the borrower, Limetree Bay, was Nichols, Newman, Logan, Grey & Lockwood, where Plaskett started his legal career.

"It definitely had a personal impact on me," Plaskett said. "I was very happy to get the deal done and happy to see something positive happening on the island where I was born and raised. The urgency was there to get it done."

The refinery built in the 1960s and later owned by Hovensa, a joint venture between Hess and the government-owned oil company in Venezuela, was a staple of the St. Croix economy until 2012. A bankruptcy action followed, and Limetree Bay became the new owner.

At the height of its activity, the refinery and its subcontractors may have employed as much as a tenth of the island's population of 50,000, Plaskett said. As the refinery shrank and then closed, restaurants and stores that served the employees suffered as well, school enrollment fell as families moved away and more people lost jobs. The government still hasn't recovered from the property and corporate tax losses, Plaskett said.

After the loan closed Feb. 15, Limetree was expected to strengthen and expand the operations at the deepwater port. It's already leasing storage space to the Chinese state oil company Sinopec to store oil and fuel for distribution.

Waterfront Site

Starting last November, Duane Morris' due diligence work on the project included poring over a more than foot-tall stack of agreements and legislation between Hess and the government of the Virgin Islands that dated back to 1965. A new operating agreement was negotiated by the governor and approved by the U.S. Virgin Islands Legislature. Among other things, it allows Limetree to operate the storage facility, try to restart the refinery, employ residents and receive tax incentives. It also entitles the company to lease new land created from dredge fill.

The refinery site and previously submerged land on Limetree Bay had to be identified and described for the loan and the correct owner identified. Plaskett and Andrew had to sort loan security issues as well as the rights and obligations of the borrower, which enabled the government to subordinate its lien. The owners must employ a minimum of 80 U.S. Virgin Islands residents, but Plaskett expects it to be more.

"This facility is so big and they have so many assets there at the facility that they can do so many things. They can find other ways to use it," said Plaskett, who moved to South Florida in 1997 after working nine years as a lawyer in St. Croix, following college and law school at Georgetown University. "There's a really sophisticated deepwater port."

Plaskett, who focuses his practice on corporate, municipal and project finance with an emphasis on renewable energy, infrastructure and development projects, sees the complex as a potential transshipment point for liquefied natural gas and propane and where larger container ships can shift cargo to smaller ships. Although he doesn't expect the site to return to large-scale heavy crude refining, other industrial uses such as storing airplane fuel are an option, he said.

In addition to Plaskett and Andrew, international tax partner William Rohrer of Duane Morris' Miami office advised on the deal.

Hunter Logan, a partner at Nichols Newman, where Plaskett began his legal career, represented Limetree Bay Terminals.

The Barclays team at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in New York included partner Jonathan Green, of counsel Bruce Gardner, and associates Jeffrey Leider and Carolyn Miller.

thanks caribstx, and also Jane, for your insight!

440 million investment of any kind sounds great for St. Croix. Hopefully it provides more employment and more investment, before the government is forced to institute it's next round of tax increases.

If the words used were "restart" - then I would think they might want to resume some operations (at one time they did consider restarting the Naphtha Unit - the first stage in refinery operations).

With all due respect, the first stage of any petrochemical refinery begins in the Crude Unit, being the crude distillation tower the exact starting point for crude refining, from then on it goes to other units. For example, the bottoms section of the crude unit tower provides the feedstock for the vacuum unit, which is where you get your solvents, etc.

The naphta unit, whether called a hydrotreater or a pre treater, is only a filtering unit and no refining takes place there, and that applies to all hydrotreater units (KHT, DHT, GHT, etc.). They may, however, perform splitting and stripping in those units to remove good products, like hydrogen, heavy hydrocarbons, not so good, like sulfur, H2S, etc.

Those that are bored may want to watch the documentary "Modern Marvels: Secrets of Oil" to learn the very basics. On said program, you will learn that one of the active ingredients in aspirin is found in the stream coming off the top of the crude tower.

I apologize for the thread hijacking. I'll now let the refining and stream of rumors continue...

(tu)

If the words used were "restart" - then I would think they might want to resume some operations (at one time they did consider restarting the Naphtha Unit - the first stage in refinery operations).

With all due respect, the first stage of any petrochemical refinery begins in the Crude Unit, being the crude distillation tower the exact starting point for crude refining, from then on it goes to other units. For example, the bottoms section of the crude unit tower provides the feedstock for the vacuum unit, which is where you get your solvents, etc.

The naphta unit, whether called a hydrotreater or a pre treater, is only a filtering unit and no refining takes place there, and that applies to all hydrotreater units (KHT, DHT, GHT, etc.). They may, however, perform splitting and stripping in those units to remove good products, like hydrogen, heavy hydrocarbons, not so good, like sulfur, H2S, etc.

Those that are bored may want to watch the documentary "Modern Marvels: Secrets of Oil" to learn the very basics. On said program, you will learn that one of the active ingredients in aspirin is found in the stream coming off the top of the crude tower.

I apologize for the thread hijacking. I'll now let the refining and stream of rumors continue...

Honestly, while I'm sure STX is grateful for any addition to their economy, many of the plants located there in the past have not been nor will be beneficial to the water ground table and environmental concerns.

So says someone who has benefited for years from the product of those plants.

True but forced.
Why not be willing to bring in environmentally responsible plants?
Obviously, you're in the know but I have to wonder if you're not a tad prejudiced.

I'm all for environmentaly responsible plants. Do you happen to know of one who wants to come here? Someone willing to suffer denigration at the hands of our senate, train a non-sophisticated workforce and operate within the confines of our archaic labor laws?

We have labor laws?

I'm all for environmentaly responsible plants. Do you happen to know of one who wants to come here? Someone willing to suffer denigration at the hands of our senate, train a non-sophisticated workforce and operate within the confines of our archaic labor laws?

So you'd prefer entities that aren't environmentally responsible and conscientious because they can pad they pockets of those in power to grant concessions?

True but forced.
Why not be willing to bring in environmentally responsible plants?
Obviously, you're in the know but I have to wonder if you're not a tad prejudiced.

Forced?

And you are the model of unbiased opinions LOL.

So you'd prefer entities that aren't environmentally responsible and conscientious because they can pad they pockets of those in power to grant concessions?

That's not what I said. What evidence do you have that the new owners are not "environmentally responsible and conscientious because they can pad they pockets of those in power to grant concessions"?

Alana, didn't you move to Florida, the Nuclear-powered state?

Yep. Moved to FL where you can actually have affordable healthcare insurance, drive on clean, pothole and trash free, well lit roads, have access to an abundance and variety of very fresh fruits and vegetables at low prices, have mail and packages delivered to my door, inexpensive utilities, trash pick up and recycling, twice weekly which is paid for thru your property taxes, free water quality testing and no power outages.
Quite the novelty for me!

I think your wasting your talents here Alana. Maybe you need to find an FLA moving center forum and push your liberal, tree hugger, over-the-top rhetoric there.

Of course some of those red neck, shotgun carrying, swamp dwelling, good ole boys may take exception to some of it.

All kiding aside, your now living in a STATE with plenty of heavy industry, and probably 50 times the population who all pay more in overall taxes than VI residences do. The commercial, industrial, and residential tax base far, far exceeds that of the VI.