British Petroleum Gives Limetree Bay Refinery More Time To Hit Operating Targets, Reuters Report Say

CHRISTIANSTED — British Petroleum has given the operator of the Limetree Bay refinery in St. Croix more time to fully restart and retain its crude oil supply agreement after the plant failed to hit operating targets last year, according to people familiar with the matter.

Last month, BP threatened to walk away from a 2018 agreement to supply up to 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and buy the resulting fuels if the Limetree Bay could not bring all its units online by mid-January. The refinery has been idled since January 2012.

A restart of the 210,000 bpd Limetree Bay Ventures’ plant was originally expected more than a year ago and was designed to profit from an international clean-air marine fuel mandate. The refinery suffered repeated setbacks, including high levels of corrosion in pipes and the decimation of demand for IMO 2020 fuels by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Limetree Bay has an undisclosed period to cure the plant’s problems under its agreement with BP, according to the people familiar with the matter. Operators aim to restart completely later this month, which would allow it to produce fuels such as gasoline and diesel, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

Read more: https://vifreepress.com/2021/01/british-petroleum-gives-limetree-bay-refinery-more-time-to-hit-operating-targets-reuters-report-says/