In May of last year Reuters quoted the MinPress, saying that Aruba will form committee to decide fate of the idled refinery, the article stated that the committee should issue recommendations within two months of its formation, which means July, but as you know nothing specific happened in July, the phantom committee did not report anything.
We are curious who is/was on the committee because no one who knows anything about the Aruba refinery seems to know anything about this committee, who’s on it, or what’s GOA/RdA is seriously doing to get a qualified operator for the refinery.
I asked around:
-A committee? They don’t need a committee; they need a demolition expert!
-Scrap it and establish a renewable energy research and production facility.
-The refinery portion of the biz is dead, it will cost you 8.3 billion to revive it, who has that kind of money? But the crude operation is valuable, boiling and mixing Venezuelan’s heavy Orinoco Gold, is a worthwhile economic pursuit, if we find the right operator. They just have to clean up Venezuela, AND find the right operator. Then Aruba’s in the money
-Robert Haugen, former VP & GM during El Paso’s tenure; and Raymond Buckley former VP & GM with Valero are now working with Klesch Group to restart the Isla Refinery in Curacao. Obviously GOA/RdA missed the boat on recruiting Raymond Buckley the most qualified Aruban for RdA and seriously finding a qualified operator.
-Edward Oduber, an Aruban, working for Citgo until the end of the month, and has close ties with Ray Buckley will probably also be going to Curacao. There are at least a dozen well qualified Arubans, former Valero employees, who should be recruited for this committee instead of involving political allies in the decision. Aruba has people with real qualifications, make the committee apolitical.
-I still say GOA needs a good bulldog lawyer to go after Citgo and their corporate guarantee!!
