Hovensa refinery sees no impact from tropical wave

For refinery outages in the new Reuters Oil Fundamentals Database, see here or go to <OFD/INFO>

NEW YORK, July 21 (Reuters) - Hess Corp (HES.N) on Tuesday said it currently expects no weather-related impact to its 500,000 barrel-per-day joint venture Hovensa refinery on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands from a brewing tropical wave.

According to a U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecast Tuesday, a tropical wave over the eastern Caribbean Sea still has a less than 30 percent chance of developing into a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours. [ID:nN21199070]

"There are no problems at the moment. As a matter of fact, it is not even raining," said Alex Moorhead, a spokesman for the refinery, which is jointly owned by Hess and Venezuela's state oil company.

"There's no information indicating that it will be an impact on the refinery," Moorhead told Reuters when asked if such an impact or any precautionary weather-linked shutdown was envisaged currently.

During the next day or so, the NHC said locally heavy rainfall and gusty winds would affect portions of the Lesser Antilles, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Hovensa, one of the largest refineries in North America, is a large supplier of gasoline and heating oil to the U.S. East Coast markets. (Reporting by Haitham Haddadin; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)