Limetree Woos Buyers and Lights Flare for Shutdown Operations

Limetree Bay will begin purging its lines Monday for an indefinite shutdown while sending 19 non-disclosure agreements to prospects it hopes will take over its short-lived refinery operation, the company’s chief restructuring officer reported to stakeholders at a Southern District of Texas Bankruptcy Court hearing.

The prospective buyers represent a mix of business types, CRO Mark Shapiro said: from hedge funds similar to Arclight Capital, which purchased the circa 1960s operation out of its prior bankruptcy from Hovensa; to companies that already own similar assets; to petrochemical manufacturers that might want to use the refinery’s end products

Meanwhile, the plant’s long-term shutdown process will begin with firing up the pilot light of flare No. 8, now repaired after it spewed hot oil across a seven-mile downwind swathe of St. Croix and triggered an Environmental Protection Agency-ordered shutdown.

The work, which involves the purging of sometimes visible gases in the lines, will occur from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week for four to six months. Some steam may be observed at the flare tip when it’s started up, the EPA alerted residents on its Limetree Bay website.

EPA sensors will monitor for sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide emissions until October, when Limetree is scheduled to install its own monitors.

Throughout the shutdown, an independent, onsite observer will be in regular contact with the EPA.