Expansion Plans Obstacle for Heritage Trail

One of the objections against the Spatial Development Plan of St. Eustatius, came from Mr. Walter Hellebrand, representing St. Eustatius Monuments Foundation (SEMF). His concern is that NuStar's expansion plans would destroy the possibility of setting up a unique heritage trail on the island:

"The area containing Benners Plantation, Godet Plantation, the bordering coast line and further along the bay to Lower Town to Blue Bead Restaurant is a unique area which the SEMF wishes to introduce as a unique heritage trail, because it includes all essential elements of the history of St. Eustatius as a typical colonial island (pre‐Columbian Indian settlement, plantation, slave trail, forts, trade, warehousing and tollbooth). This trail is easily accessible. The construction of oils storage tanks south of Signal Hill would destroy the possibility of setting up this unique heritage trail."

NuStar's Expansion Plans: A Second Terminal in the Farm Area (Schotsenhoek)

According to the Memorandum of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), NuStar’s expansion plan consists of the following:

• Increase of the total capacity of 2.2 million m3 (13,8 million barrels) by an additional 1.9 million m3 (11,8 million barrels)


• Construction of approximately 31 new tanks for the storage of various hydrocarbon products, such as crude oil, fuel oil, jet fuel, gasoil and gasoline


• Construction of a new ± 1,730 m jetty in the Smoke Alley area to allow the transshipment of oil by ocean vessels


• New infrastructure like power generation and micro-tunnel between the existing and the new terminal for the transport of products by pipeline 

Red = existing terminal - Green = new terminal

St. Eustatius and NuStar Energy L.P.

NuStar’s existing terminal on St. Eustatius (67 tanks)

St. Eustatius, locally known as Statia, is a Dutch Caribbean island, close to St. Maarten and St. Kitts. The island has an area of approximately 21 square km (or 8.1 square miles). According to the Central Bureau of Statistics in Curacao the population is recorded at 2886 inhabitants (2010). Although not widely recognized, the island has a tremendous rich history. During the 18th century, it was the main transshipment point in the Western hemisphere. For tourism purposes, St. Eustatius is marketed as “The Historical Gem”. Since 1982, an oil terminal is operational on the island.

NuStar Energy L.P. is the second largest oil terminal operator in the United States of America. NuStar is a listed company on the New York Stock Exchange, and recently entered the Fortune 500 list (annual ranking of America’s largest corporations). NuStar holds 65 terminal and storage facilities around the world, and acquired Statia Terminal in 2005. Measured by storage capacity, the terminal on St. Eustatius is by far the largest of all (13 million barrels). Statia’s storage capacity alone is just as big as 25% of all 55 NuStar’s terminals in the United States (50.6 barrels). Source: NuStar Annual Report 2010

SEAD launches blog on NuStar Expansion

The St. Eustatius Awareness and Development Network, also known as SEAD Network, is a grass roots movement that has been established on the island of St. Eustatius (Statia) since February 2011.

The network consists of individuals from within the community of Statia who share a common idea regardless of their differing political, religious and other views.

This idea is the belief that Statia can only achieve its true potential by having its people collectively aware of and informed on the important issues within its community and by empowering these individuals to take action and bring about the changes they desire.

From this simple idea SEAD has developed its mission of helping all individuals on Statia to acquire/share information, exchange ideas and become more aware of the important issues facing the island. The hope is that by doing this, the community of Statia will obtain the necessary information, resources and tools they need to bring about the collective changes they desire.

The main goal of this blog is to inform the international community about the planned expansion of oil terminal operator NuStar Energy L.P. on the island.