April 22, 2004 — Hovensa and the V.I. Public Finance Authority finalized a $50.6 million bond agreement Wednesday, two days before an approaching deadline.
The private activity bonds had been awarded to the company in February but Hovensa missed the April 1 deadline to utilize the allocation. On April 5, the PFA extended the company's deadline to April 23.
Hovensa officials Lawrence Kupfer, president and chief operating officer; Marco Crovesi, vice president and deputy chief operating officer; Alex Moorhead, vice president for government affairs and community relations; and Sioban Hickie, supervisor debt management of Amerada Hess met with a PFA board member, bond attorneys and bank representative at the PFA's office to witness the closing of the deal.
"This means that we're able to refinance some debt we had in relation to the coker," Moorhead said.
Moorhead added that the tax-exempt bonds would help reduce the company's interest rates. Part of the money will go to the PFA for processing the bonds.
Hovensa will assume all debt responsibility associated with the issuance of the bonds.
Hovensa's $600-million coker, which began operating in August 2002, enables the refinery to process a cruder and thus less expensive grade of petroleum than previously had been possible.
Hovensa is a joint venture of Amerada Hess, parent company of Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corp., and Petroleos de Venezuela, the huge government-owned oil company of the South American nation.
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