The problem-plagued Limetree Bay refinery in St. Croix, Virgin Islands, may lose its main supplier of crude, oil major BP, if it isn’t successfully up and running by December, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The Caribbean refinery’s owner, Limetree Bay Ventures, has spent at least $2.7 billion restoring the facility, initially hoping to tap rising demand for low-sulfur fuels and markets in Latin American and Caribbean. But the plant’s restart date has been delayed by nearly a year now.
BP Plc invested in the plant with an agreement to supply its crude and market the fuels produced in anticipation of a late 2019 startup. BP can terminate that contract if the plant cannot reach a certain production target by year-end, the people said, threatening the future of the largest new refining capacity in the Americas.
