Impairment Analysis

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011


3.	IMPAIRMENT ANALYSIS

In late 2008, the U.S. and worldwide economies experienced severe disruptions in their capital and commodities markets resulting in a significant slowdown that persisted throughout 2009. This slowdown negatively impacted refining industry fundamentals and the demand and price for our refined products. Because of this negative impact, we decided to shut down our Aruba Refinery temporarily in July 2009, and it remained shut until January 2011. We restarted our Aruba Refinery due to improvements in the U.S. and worldwide economies and the resulting improvement in refining industry fundamentals; however, we analyzed our Aruba Refinery for potential impairment as of September 30, 2011 because of its recent temporary shutdown, its negative operating cash flows subsequent to its restart, the sensitivity of its profitability to sour crude oil differentials, and our decision in July 2011 to renew our exploration of strategic alternatives for the refinery, which may include the sale of the refinery. We considered these matters in our impairment analysis and concluded that our Aruba Refinery was not impaired as of September 30, 2011. Our future cash flow estimates for the refinery are based on our expectation that refining industry fundamentals will continue to improve in connection with an increase in the demand for refined products. Should refining industry fundamentals fail to continue to improve or should we decide to sell the refinery, our future cash flow estimates may be negatively impacted and we could ultimately determine that the refinery is impaired. The Aruba Refinery had a net book value of $950 million as of September 30, 2011; therefore, an impairment loss could be material to our results of operations.