Just in case the tens of millions of dollars spent by HOVENSA to ensure that the St. Croix oil refinery is Y2K proof, extra personnel will be on duty and a special command center set up to monitor the change of the millennium.
While Hess Oil of the Virgin Islands, the refinery’s previous owner, and HOVENSA, a joint venture company of Hess and Petroleos de Venezuela, have spent more than $12 million over the last two years to make the plant Y2K compliant, HOVENSA will still implement a contingency plan in case "something was missed," said Rene Sagebien, president and chief operating officer.
"Over 24,000 items containing microprocessors were identified and assessed with the assistance of suppliers of the equipment and technical consultants," Sagebien said. "Items that had Y2K deficiencies were then upgraded or replaced."
The refinery’s contingency plan has two elements: Additional operating and technical personnel will be on duty between 10 p.m. on New Year’s Eve and 3 a.m. on Jan. 1. The second measure the company is taking will be to set up a command center that will be manned from noon on Dec. 31 until noon on Jan. 1.
The command center will monitor reports of any Y2K incidents in the 15 time zones that will experience the rollover to the year 2000 before the Caribbean, Sagebien said. In instances where there are problems with equipment that is similar to that at the HOVENSA refinery, employees will check to see if the problem has already been corrected or they will "quickly devise a plan to address the deficiency."
Sagebien said he is “reasonably confident that all potential sources of Y2K bugs that could affect the operations of the refinery have been eliminated."
The St. Croix refinery, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, employs some 850 people and produces about 400,000 barrels of oil a day, although it has the capability to pump out 500,000 barrels a day.
