The Thot Plickens...

Every day, new drama...the Company announced this morning that they are going to shutdown the refinery. The qualifier is that it is supposed to be only for the summer (till October…allegedly). At that time, they’ll evaluate the economics to see if they should start back up or just lock the gates and walk away. But, up to the October “drop dead” date, everyone will keep their jobs and our project (and others) will continue. The savings comes from not buying raw materials, utilities, maintenance costs, etc.

Now keep in mind that this is the only refinery in Aruba and it supports thousands of families and uncountable businesses. Permanently shutting this refinery down would have a devastating impact on the economy. It would affect this country to the extent of, say, shutting down all the refineries and chemical plants in either Galveston or Brazoria counties.

Here is the cold-blooded part. I’m on my way to lunch after the announcement has gone public, and I tune into the government radio station. I should also tell you that there is great resentment toward people who are not Aruban (especially Americans) that work in the refinery because, in theory, they are taking Aruban jobs.

So here is some high-ranking government official (Deputy Minister of something…should be Propaganda) saying “Now is the time for all American contractors to get the hell out of Aruba and take Valero with them. Let PetroBraz or PetroChina have the refinery. There are 102 American professionals in that refinery and they should all leave today”. This is a government official essentially kicking Americans out of the country on the freakin’ radio.

I immediately started flashing back to Saigon in 1975 or ’76 or whenever it was with all those people swarming onto helicopters from the roof of the embassy with the Viet Cong overtaking the city behind them. I asked the other people in the car where the embassy was because “I’m going to climb up on the roof and wait for the helicopters.” They didn’t get the homage but they got a laugh out of it anyway. I don’t know…I think I may be too delicate to make a good hostage.

But, the plan is for us to carry on with business as usual. Damn, I was hoping I'd get kicked out today. While they were making the announcement, I was scrolling through my cell phone directory looking for my travel agent to have her send a chopper or something.

Oh...and I talked to my wife, my daughter, and one of my best friends on the phone earlier. But only one of them asked if I was safe...(you know who you are). What's that about?

At some point during the day I had this thought that I wished the refinery was in Curacao where they at least have a really tall bridge.

OUT