Orange Barrel Media..........................................oil is measured in barrels...................Illuminati.........

Economy[edit]

HOVENSA oil refinery

St. Croix was once an agricultural powerhouse in the Caribbean, but this period ended with the rapid industrialization of the island's economy in the 1960s. Like many other Caribbean islands today, St. Croix has tourism as one of its main sources of revenue. A number of other industries on the island contribute to the economy.

St. Croix was home to HOVENSA, one of the world's largest oil refineries. HOVENSA is a limited liability company owned and operated by Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corp. (HOVIC), a division of U.S.-based Hess Corporation, and Petroleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA), the national oil company of Venezuela. Gas prices on the island were slightly higher than average when compared to gas prices in the continental United States.

On January 18, 2012, the company announced that the HOVENSA refinery would be permanently shut down. This was expected to have a major adverse effect on the economy of St. Croix and the entire U.S. Virgin Islands, as the refinery employed 1,200 residents and 950 contractors.^[7]

St. Croix is also home to the Cruzan Rum Distillery,^[8] makers of Cruzan Rum, a brand of Beam Global. The Cruzan Rum Distillery was founded in 1760 as Estate Diamond, and for many years used locally grown sugar cane to produce a single "dark" style rum. The distillery now imports sugar cane molasses from other countries in the region, primarily from the Dominican Republic and South America. In recent years, Cruzan Rum, along with Bacardi from Puerto Rico and Gosling's from Bermuda, has contributed to the resurgence of "single barrel," super-premium rum. The quality and smoothness of the Cruzan Estate Rums has won more than 30 Spirit Awards.^[9] Cruzan Estate Diamond Rum (aged 5 years in American oak barrels) and Cruzan Single Barrel Estate Rum (aged 12 years in American oak barrels) are just a couple of examples.

Diageo has completed construction of a new distillery on a 26-acre industrial site next to the Hovensa Refinery. The new distillery produces Captain Morgan Rum.^[10] Diageo's entrance into the U.S. Virgin Islands rum industry has been controversial. The cash-strapped U.S. Virgin Islands government secured $250 million in bonds for the plant, about which the Puerto Rican government has bitterly complained.