Limetree starts Caribbean offshore VLCC port

Limetree Bay has successfully commissioned its offshore port in the US Virgin Islands capable of loading and unloading very large crude carriers (VLCCs).

The single-point mooring system was commissioned last month, the company said.

Limetree safely loaded "several million barrels" of crude in May to VLCCs. The offshore port is connected to the shore via subsea pipelines. VLCC tankers can carry up to 2mn bl.

Limetree is a crude, refined products and LPG storage terminal which sits on 1,500 acres on the south shore of St Croix. It includes 167 tanks with 34mn bl of storage capacity.

Limetree did not comment on the status of work to start 200,000 b/d of crude processing at its adjacent refining site.

The VLCC port started operations just as US exporters were seeking storage outlets for domestic crude because of the drop in global demand following Covid-19 containment efforts. US exporters have found refuge in Caribbean storage outlets as they struggled to place cargoes in a saturated market.

By Eunice Bridges