West Indies Petroleum, in Sudden Left-Field Announcement, Says it Has No Stake in Limetree Bay Refinery

ERNICE GILBERT/ V.I. CONSORTIUM

West Indies Petroleum, which along with its partner Port Hamilton Refining and Transportation in January closed on an auction sale of the Limetree Bay Refinery, said Wednesday morning that it does not have a stake in the refinery — and apparently never did — a sudden and left-field announcement leaving more questions than answers.

West Indies Petroleum took control of the refinery late January after the company and Port Hamilton Refining and Transportation made the final $11.4 million of the $62 million sale price for the auction-sold south shore facility, which WIPL won mid-December. In fact, Judge David Jones, the chief bankruptcy judge for the Southern District in Houston, Texas in early December ordered the auction for the Limetree Bay Refinery be reopened to allow West Indies Petroleum to participate. The order essentially snatched the refinery from St. Croix Energy, which on Nov. 18 had won the auction.

Today, WIPL said it has no ownership stake in the Limetree Bay Refinery and that it was prohibited from clarifying its position because of certain legalities.

"West Indies Petroleum Limited wishes to clarify that contrary to media reports it is not a stakeholder in the Limetree Bay Refinery in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands and was not the entity which purchased the refinery," the company said in a statement.

WIPL further stated, "Although an initial participant in the early bidding process, due to legal factors WIPL elected not to further pursue the initiative. Those factors also constrained WIPL from commenting sooner about the inaccurate reports in the media.

"The sale of the Limetree Bay Refinery was successfully closed earlier this year by Port Hamilton Refining and Transportation which is a consortium of United States and Caribbean based investors."

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