The process of decommissioning the shuttered Limetree Bay refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands will take several months, the company’s owner told a Texas bankruptcy court on Monday, Reuters report. Limetree Bay, which filed last month for chapter 11 protection, has engaged investment bank Jefferies Financial Group Inc to run the sale of the plant, likely in its entirety. Owners of the facility in St. Croix burned through $4.1 billion to resurrect what was once the largest refinery in the Western Hemisphere, hoping to take advantage of rising global demand. Instead, the refinery only operated for three months before U.S. environmental regulators shut it in May due to foul odors and noxious releases that harmed nearby communities. “We probably will completely shut the plant down,” Elizabeth Green, lead bankruptcy attorney for Limetree, said in a hearing on Monday. “But I’m not 100% sure that decision has been made.” Limetree would have needed at least $1 billion to finish a massive overhaul to continue as a viable operation, according to bankers, lawyers and restructuring specialists involved in the case who spoke to Reuters in July.
