Interesting News on St. Croix Refinery

Maybe you ought to go back and read LimeTree's original proposal where they said that they "might" want to restart the Naphtha Unit but it was unlikely they would run any other part of the refinery. Now maybe, they would run the "Crude" section, but that was not what they indicated.

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...

Specify Lake County, FL please. Not universally true for all of Florida.

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!

The commercial, industrial, and residential tax base far, far exceeds that of the VI.

The FL cruise ship tax base alone is probably bigger than the VI economy.

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...

This isn't exactly correct. A naptha unit would typically refer to a unifiner or a reformer unit. The unifiner sweetens the naptha as either blending stock or reformer feed, and the reformer improves the octane of the naptha. They catalytically treat the naptha, and do not simply filter or split or strip them, though the reactor effluent does go through some degree of this processing. Any processing of the raw naptha like that could be accomplished at the upstream crude unit. Hydrotreater is typically the term used for distillate treating units(diesel, jet fuel, heating oil).

There have been rumors circulating about the continued investment and progress taking place at Lime tree. Does anyone know for sure, have they moved any closer to bringing parts of the refining operation back on-line?

There have been rumors circulating about the continued investment and progress taking place at Lime tree. Does anyone know for sure, have they moved any closer to bringing parts of the refining operation back on-line?

Not for sure, but lots of anecdotal evidence; hiring, pipe plugs being pulled out, building rentals, etc.
Jet Fuel refining is the latest rumor.

Cottage housing is full. And they've started to move folks into Blessing. (tu)

I need clarification. Weren't Cottage and Blessing turned over to the VI in the sale agreement? Presumably the Government can rent them to anyone?

Cottage and Blessing did transfer to VIG Property and Procurement, and Limetree leases the houses for employees.

Thanks for the clarifications. I'm glad the VI Gov is not responsible for the maintenance; otherwise the houses would become a pile of rubble by the end of the decade.

janeinstx is right. Only light oil refining will be done at the refinery. It's toast. And does everyone in STX really know what Hess who built Hovensa did to the island? The Hess subsidiary left abruptly way before it was supposed to because of mismanagement and the inability to compete with natural gas. STX is still in an ongoing $1 billion lawsuit over that. And sure they paid big taxes but Hess also pulled in huge sums — more than $6.2 billion in tax breaks and other benefits by 1992 alone. So paying taxes to us may sound great but at what price? On top of that, Hess built that refinery on the largest mangrove lagoon on the island and ruined the aquifer there. That sure would have come in handy when it goes into drought here. And just before the plant closed in 2012, the EPA reached a 700 million settlement with Hess in 2011 to upgrade all for safety sake. It's doubtful they even drained the lines. Piping cannot stand 5 years like that. It's rusted too thin. When Hess pulled out they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, allowing it to pursue the sale of the refinery for use as a simple storage facility. But one portion has been resurrected for light crude only at only half of what it was producing before. That's it. There isn't going to be any big production going on there . Hovensa couldn't compete with natural gas when it closed but the gossip flows again. My husband, a former union pipe welder from Detroit for 37 years to include Marathon refinery just talked to 2 Texans that are here like so many to check out the plant. He just laughed. Told them that it would take 2000 guys, 3 years to replace all that rusted pipe. Good luck. That'll cost ya. Agriculture is what should be cultivated here. Importing everything is sheer insanity. Oil isn't progress by a long shot.

I wish i knew who is here from.texas. i worked for Litwin who.built the refinery in 1966. I worked there in 1993. I live 350 miles away and want to go back.

Mmmm

janeinstx is right. Only light oil refining will be done at the refinery. It's toast. And does everyone in STX really know what Hess who built Hovensa did to the island? The Hess subsidiary left abruptly way before it was supposed to because of mismanagement and the inability to compete with natural gas. STX is still in an ongoing $1 billion lawsuit over that. And sure they paid big taxes but Hess also pulled in huge sums — more than $6.2 billion in tax breaks and other benefits by 1992 alone. So paying taxes to us may sound great but at what price? On top of that, Hess built that refinery on the largest mangrove lagoon on the island and ruined the aquifer there. That sure would have come in handy when it goes into drought here. And just before the plant closed in 2012, the EPA reached a 700 million settlement with Hess in 2011 to upgrade all for safety sake. It's doubtful they even drained the lines. Piping cannot stand 5 years like that. It's rusted too thin. When Hess pulled out they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, allowing it to pursue the sale of the refinery for use as a simple storage facility. But one portion has been resurrected for light crude only at only half of what it was producing before. That's it. There isn't going to be any big production going on there . Hovensa couldn't compete with natural gas when it closed but the gossip flows again. My husband, a former union pipe welder from Detroit for 37 years to include Marathon refinery just talked to 2 Texans that are here like so many to check out the plant. He just laughed. Told them that it would take 2000 guys, 3 years to replace all that rusted pipe. Good luck. That'll cost ya. Agriculture is what should be cultivated here. Importing everything is sheer insanity. Oil isn't progress by a long shot.

By reading this, some of us can tell you know very little about what's really going on.

janeinstx is right. Only light oil refining will be done at the refinery. It's toast. And does everyone in STX really know what Hess who built Hovensa did to the island? The Hess subsidiary left abruptly way before it was supposed to because of mismanagement and the inability to compete with natural gas. STX is still in an ongoing $1 billion lawsuit over that. And sure they paid big taxes but Hess also pulled in huge sums — more than $6.2 billion in tax breaks and other benefits by 1992 alone. So paying taxes to us may sound great but at what price? On top of that, Hess built that refinery on the largest mangrove lagoon on the island and ruined the aquifer there. That sure would have come in handy when it goes into drought here. And just before the plant closed in 2012, the EPA reached a 700 million settlement with Hess in 2011 to upgrade all for safety sake. It's doubtful they even drained the lines. Piping cannot stand 5 years like that. It's rusted too thin. When Hess pulled out they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, allowing it to pursue the sale of the refinery for use as a simple storage facility. But one portion has been resurrected for light crude only at only half of what it was producing before. That's it. There isn't going to be any big production going on there . Hovensa couldn't compete with natural gas when it closed but the gossip flows again. My husband, a former union pipe welder from Detroit for 37 years to include Marathon refinery just talked to 2 Texans that are here like so many to check out the plant. He just laughed. Told them that it would take 2000 guys, 3 years to replace all that rusted pipe. Good luck. That'll cost ya. Agriculture is what should be cultivated here. Importing everything is sheer insanity. Oil isn't progress by a long shot.

By reading this, some of us can tell you know very little about what's really going on.

You have no idea what you are talking about

 

So whats the name or names of firms working there now? No.one knows?

Some of us know! But, I'm not telling.

2 or 3 Cranes working on the Cat Cracker area today.

The “older” west side of the property had been cleaned up recently too. It looked as though it was being used as a dump site for lots of the older infrastructure as far back as when Hovensa was still running things. Looks like they’ve got plans for building something new over there.

Looks like they’ve got plans for building something new over there.

More storage tanks I believe.

Some of us know! But, I'm not telling.[/quote
Why not. I dont thing you know all then. I dont see why you would act like a child.

 

Some of us know! But, I'm not telling.

Actually i was already contacted by a contract firm to go work there. So i really dont need anything from you. Just was asking. Thanks for the help

Let me guess...

For their Public Relations Department?

Let me guess...

For their Public Relations Department?

Guess again.
I am a piping engineer .Sorry I even bothered asking you arrogant assholes. Seems like every forum has them and i just found them . Yawl are worthless pos.

Some of us are pretty awesome and helpful. 🙂

Tammy