Aruba signs MOU with PDVSA and Citgo about looking at possibility of reopening oil refinery

The government of Aruba – off Venezuela’s coast – announced on Friday it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Venezuelan state energy giant PDVSA and its US affiliate Citgo Petroleum to look at reopening the island’s oil processing refinery, according to Reuters.

The idle facility, which has been closed for three years, is located near San Nicolaas on the coast and was previously run by US firm Valero Energy which shut it down for lack of sufficient profitability.

So far Valero has resisted overtures from PDVSA and Citgo to sell. But now it has yielded somewhat by signing the MOU in Houston, Texas on Friday.

Aruba is a small Dutch Caribbean island where English, Dutch, Spanish and the local language Papiamento are all spoken. It is a popular tourist destination with North American holidaymakers.