St. Croix’s long-idled oil refinery could be moving closer to a phased restart, with operator Port Hamilton Refining and Transportation targeting 2027 and reporting progress on a potential commercial fuel-supply arrangement.

Port Hamilton Director David Johnson outlined the timeline in an interview with Bloomberg, saying the company hopes to bring the facility back online within approximately 12 months. The longer-term plan is to build production in stages, eventually exceeding 200,000 barrels per day.

A significant development is an agreement with an unnamed commercial partner that has committed to supplying crude oil to the refinery and purchasing its finished fuel products. The agreement’s financial terms, volumes and duration have not been publicly disclosed.

The company is also evaluating financing options and has attracted interest from U.S. government financing programmes, private investors and lenders. However, no final financing package or federal funding award has been publicly announced, and the restart remains dependent on completing financing and satisfying regulatory, engineering and other requirements.

For St. Croix, the proposal is significant because a refinery restart could have wider implications for the territory’s energy-related business activity, industrial operations and employment opportunities. Those benefits, however, will depend on whether the project progresses from planning to actual operations.

The 2027 target offers a new timeline for a major industrial project but financing, regulatory approval and safe startup requirements remain decisive hurdles.