Hovensa Deal in Jeooardy?

They all (senators) suffer from long-term memory problems. I will never forget when they did the inquiry on the HOVENSA closure and they all grilled the management for shutting down the operation in violation of the 3th amendment. Also telling them they were "required" to restart the refinery. Yeah, right...

Like Cruzaniron posted, they have had PLENTY of time. Almost three years since the announcement of the clousure, and two years, because it was on the news, since they were well aware the airport did not have proper storage facilities.

Don't worry...the refinery will be sold to ABR. Just you wait and see.

The antics of the senate are very predicable but at the end of the day...they desperately need the revenue ABR will generate.

IslandHops, thank you for summing up the very same reaction I had to the Avis article, to Gitten's ridiculous comments, and to Roach's suggestion to change residency requirements. Very scary.

Here's a quote from a viconsortium article:

"Attorney General Vincent Frazer first revealed the news at Wednesday’s hearing on St. Thomas, where Governor de Jongh had called a Special Session for the Senate to consider approval of the Agreement. HOVENSA said its parent company would stop subsidizing the oil refinery, leaving it without cash come December. Frazer’s information came from a letter sent by attorney George Dudley, who has represented HOVENSA in the past.

Senator Shawn-Michael Malone asked David Herr from the firm Duff and Phelps, who is one of the Governor’s refinery advisors, how much money HOVENSA was currently making running the refinery as an oil storage facility. Herr said HOVENSA was bringing anywhere from $150 million to $170 million a year."

Nothing like having your hand forced with an undisguised threat.
It reeks.

So what is your issue with the statement? Why would they stay in business if they are losing money? Isn't that why they stopped refining in the first place?

http://vikingstamp.com/hess2014/reports/Hess2013_Full_AR.pdf Start reading at page 105.

So what is your issue with the statement? Why would they stay in business if they are losing money? Isn't that why they stopped refining in the first place?

That they're allegedly bringing in, "anywhere from $150 million to $170 million a year" means diddly squat on its own when the crucial part about expenditures is conveniently left out.

The issue I have is that they decide to shut it down mid December, giving extremely little notice and what "HOVENSA was currently making running the refinery as an oil storage facility was bringing anywhere from $150 million to $170 million a year."

To me, it seems like a blackmailing tactic to get the refinery sold to ABR. I've just never liked bullying tactics and ultimatums.

Alana, that was an estimate of the gross revenue as presented by ABR.
You can go on line and look at the 2013 audited financial statements from the Hess annual report to confirm that they aren't making any money as a storage terminal.

Alana33...Hess did not just decide recently to shut down operations at Hovensa in December. The 2013 annual report clearly states on page 108...

The accompanying financial statements of HOVENSA have been prepared in conformity with United States generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). As further explained in Notes 2 and 3 below, the Company fully impaired its property, plant and equipment and recorded certain refinery shutdown costs at December 31, 2011.
Refinery shutdown activities occurred in 2012 and 2013. The Company received financial support from the members in 2012 to fund a portion of the expenditures for the refinery shutdown and conversion to an oil storage terminal.

The members’ primary objective is to sell the refinery and related facilities. The Company believes that it has cash reserves that are only sufficient to fund its operations through the first three quarters of 2014 and the members currently do not anticipate providing any additional funding to the Company. If an agreement to sell the refinery
cannot be reached, the Company will likely not be able to continue operating the facility as an oil storage terminal.

Since this has been well known by all the parties for well over a year, what has the GVI done to mitigate the fallout from the tank farm and truck rack closing. Nothing!

So...if the senators don't sign off on the ABR deal, we will be left with nothing.

Exactly. The 2013 Annual Report released March 2014 was pretty specific.

The issue I have is that they decide to shut it down mid December, giving extremely little notice ....

If you read the annual report via the link above it states on page 108:

The members’ primary objective is to sell the refinery and related facilities. The Company believes that it has cash reserves that are only sufficient to fund its operations through the first three quarters of 2014 and the members currently do not anticipate providing any additional funding to the Company. If an agreement to sell the refinery cannot be reached, the Company will likely not be able to continue operating the facility as an oil storage terminal.

The annual report was issued in February of this year. 10 months should have been be plenty of notice. Our inept government leadership was supposed to have been closely involved in all aspects of the sale process and should have been clearly aware of the implications of not completing this task in a timely fashion. Our leadership is only good at closing the barn door once they are certain they have whipped the horse to near death as it bolts out of here. Management by crisis of their own making - true banana republic leadership in action.

Well said IslandHops...well said.

My mistake, I did not see the annual report.

Let's hope in light if that the VI government has made the necessary preparations to deal with the shut-down but I have to say that in Feb. 2013, the company was also fully aware of the negotiations with ABR and how the the closure of the storage facility would impact this deal. I still feel they're holding us over the barrel, no pun intended.
It just seems too convenient and coincidental to me to have both these deadlines looming so close to each other.