WILLEMSTAD - The two companies, which are still showing an interest in operating on the Isla Refinery's premises, Global Oil and Oryx Petroleum, are familiar with each other in the oil market. Harry Seargant III, director of the Global Oil Management Group, has had contact with the Qatar Investment Authority organization, a group that has Oryx Petroleum in its investment portfolio.
Oryx, a company that Curaçao Refinery confirmed to have signed an MOU with, is linked to the powerful Qatar Investment Authority, an organization that manages the Qatar Investment Sovereign Fund. As previously published, Oryx has an interest in Isla and Bullenbaai. This is what Curaçao Refinery communicated in an official press release.
This is a company with support from the Sovereign Investment Fund of Qatar. This could be more good news for Bullenbaai and Curaçao Refinery Utilities (CRU). The tank terminal at Bullenbaai has been going through tough times after civil disputes over rights between companies related to Caribbean Petroleum Refinery. Bullenbaai has not been receiving payments since February 2023. In the meantime, CRU has terminated the contract with CPR, leading to over 7 civil cases filed in court to claim ownership of 490 million barrels of fuel oil in the tanks at Bullenbaai.
Although official sources have not confirmed it, Global Oil Management is in contact with Oryx. Chances are that both parties need to sit down to coordinate the crude oil flow from Venezuela to the refinery and also for crude oil production. In the meantime, Global Oil has submitted a request to start importing crude oil from Venezuela. OFAC approved the request at that time, and Venezuelan crude oil began entering St Anna Bay, Willemstad after 5 years. Through the intervention of their subsidiary established in Curaçao (CORT), Global submitted the official request to OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) for a license. The request, submitted by CORT, enables OFAC to issue a permit to start importing crude oil or petroleum products from Venezuela. Currently, Global has a 5-year contract signed with Curaçao Refinery (RdK) and Curaçao Refinery Utilities (CRU). The contract includes the use of facilities and services from both companies against a monthly payment of at least 2 million guilders to be distributed between RdK and CRU. The consideration for the permit is to improve the quality of asphalt on the roads in the United States. According to Global, Venezuela's crude oil is better for producing asphalt due to its composition.
In addition to exporting asphalt to the United States, the partner of Curaçao Refinery, Global Oil Management Group from Boca Raton, the United States, is willing to export Curaçao's crude oil to the Caribbean islands. This is what their petroleum advisors, Greta Lichtenbaum and David Ribner, explained to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The intention is to take the asphalt from Curaçao, and export it directly to the United States, but also have the option to support the Caribbean islands in maintaining their roads.
According to Global's contract, they have rights to manage facilities on the premises of the Isla Refinery. Oryx's MoU is directed towards managing the Isla Refinery, which could mean possible negotiations between Oryx and Global Oil Management of Boca Raton. For example, the contract between Global Oil Management and Curaçao Refinery obligates Global Oil to pay a monthly sum of around half a million dollars for renting facilities on Isla's premises. This amounts to about 900,000 guilders per month for the use of facilities, excluding payments for using services at CRU, which are also projected to be around an additional 500,000 guilders. Global has also signed a service contract with CRU, but the monthly payment amount does not include CRU's services. For this, a separate payment schedule was created, depending on the services that Global uses. This involves separate sums for each service, ranging from about 240,000 dollars monthly to 50,000 dollars monthly.
Now that RdK has signed with Oryx, the contract with Global Oil Management must be considered. Global's contract contains detailed specifications about which facilities they will use, granting Global rights to use them for the next five years.