Low global crude demand during the Covid-19 pandemic has encouraged US exporters to seek refuge in Caribbean storage outlets as they struggle to place cargoes in a saturated market.
At least 4.8mn bl of light, sweet crude departed the US Gulf coast this month for regional storage locations, with Chinese state-owned Unipec and BP being two of the named charterers.
The Aframax tanker Ionic Artemis is in the process of discharging a 670,000 bl cargo of WTI at Buckeye Partners' 9.3mn bl St Lucia crude storage and transshipment facility, according to shipping data compiled by Argus. No refineries exist on the island, indicating the cargo is being discharged specifically for storage purposes.
The BP-chartered Suezmax Homeric is meanwhile expected to arrive this weekend at the St Eustatius oil storage facility, which Prostar Capital acquired last year from storage-focused US firm NuStar.
Another five crude tankers carrying roughly 3.1mn bl of mostly WTI crude have recently discharged or will soon arrive at the Limetree Bay terminal in the US Virgin Islands.
The 200,000 b/d Limetree Bay refinery at St Croix, US Virgin Islands, was expected to restart in late 2019 or early 2020 after its predecessor — the 525,000 b/d Hovensa refinery — shut down in 2012.
A single-point mooring (SPM) system capable of loading and unloading very large crude carriers (VLCCs) at the nearby Limetree Bay terminal was also expected to begin operations during the fourth quarter.
Pursuit of a refinery restart was a condition of ArcLight Capital Partners' acquisition of the former Hovensa refinery in 2015. Buyers saw opportunity in the facility's tank farm as a Caribbean terminal, but were reluctant to shoulder the uncompetitive costs associated with the large refining complex.
The Limetree Bay terminal has 167 tanks with a storage capacity of about 34mn bl, according to company information.
