Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) has announced that it will close its Hovensa refinery in the US Virgin Islands next month and use the site as an oil storage facility. The refinery is a joint venture between Hess and Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PdVSA), Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. The refinery, which has been in operation for more than 40 years, has a capacity of 350,000 barrels/day of the heavy Venezuelan crude.
The closing will eliminate 2,400 of the current 2,500 jobs at Hovensa. Hess will take a charge of $525 million in the fourth-quarter for costs related to the closure.
The refinery has booked losses of $1.3 billion over the past three years as it has been unable to lower its costs and as demand for refined products has dropped in the US and Europe.
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