The Water and Power Authority (WAPA) advises the public that over the next 24-48 hours, the very large gas carrier, Berge Summit, a prominent nautical site along the south coast of St. Thomas, will be off its mooring and out to sea while routine inspections are made of the vessel’s single point mooring.
The mooring, located some 7.5 nautical miles southwest of St. Thomas, is subject to routine inspection from time to time. While the mooring is undergoing inspection and maintenance, the owner of the gas carrier will simultaneously use the opportunity to operate the vessel at sea to test all of its systems and functionalities.
The large green-colored vessel stores approximately one million gallons of liquid propane that is shuttled to WAPA’s power plants by two smaller vessels. The shuttle vessels, Epic Caledonia and Epic Curacao, and the Berge Summit are leased by VITOL as part of the company’s operations in the territory. VITOL is under contract with WAPA to operate LPG terminals at the power plants on St. Thomas and St. Croix and to supply WAPA with propane fuel to produce electricity.
The Berge Summit’s being at sea and the ongoing inspections of the mooring will have no effect on WAPA’s propane supply or on its electrical generating operations.