Integrated oil and gas company Hess Corp. (HES) said Monday that it is exploring the sale of its St. Lucia crude oil and refined products storage and transshipment terminal in the Caribbean. The company has retained Goldman Sachs as financial advisor in connection with the potential sale.
In late January, New York-based Hess reported a loss for the fourth quarter, hurt mainly by a hefty charge related to the shutdown of its Hovensa refinery in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Hess said it explored all available options to keep the refinery operating, but severe financial losses resulted in the closure of the refinery. Hess noted that losses at the refinery have totaled $1.3 billion in the past three years alone and were expected to continue.
According to the company, the losses were mainly due to weakness in demand for refined petroleum products as a result of the global economic slowdown and addition of new refining capacity in emerging markets. In addition, low natural gas prices in the U.S also impacted the refinery.
Hess said it had explored all available options to keep the refinery operating, but severe financial losses resulted in the closure of the refinery. Following the shutdown, the company said it plans to operate the complex as an oil storage terminal.
HES closed Friday’s trading at $62.55, up $1.06 on a volume of 5.01 million shares.
(Source http://www.nasdaq.com/article/hess-explores-sale-of-st-lucia-oil-terminal-20120319-00546)
