By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, May 17 -- A Tuesday fire at Hovensa LLC in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, has reduced gasoline production by 30,000 b/d, but it has not affected oil processing, an Amerada Hess Corp. spokesman in New York said Thursday.
Hovensa is a joint venture between Amerada Hess Corp. and Petroleos de Venezuela SA.
Carl Tursi of Amerada Hess said the extent of damage and the cause of the fire remained under investigation. He estimated it would make a month to 6 weeks to repair the fire damage to equipment used in the distillation process of making conventional gasoline.
"We normally make 180,000 b/d of gasoline, so we still are making 85%," Tursi said.
The refinery's crude capacity is 545,000 b/d but it has been processing 400,000 b/d, Tursi said.
