Community Center

Buyout Agreement Reached Between Vitol and WAPA; Utility Hopes Territorial Line of Credit Will Facilitate Process

Following a protracted, contentious negotiation, the terms and conditions of the buyout of energy trading company Vitol’s propane infrastructure by the Water and Power Authority have been agreed, according to WAPA Executive Director Andrew Smith. “The Vitol liability is the single largest liability for WAPA,” Mr. Smith said at Thursday’s meeting of WAPA’s newly reconfigured governing board. “It is also the single largest monthly operating cost in terms of the infrastructure payment for WAPA. Now, WAPA’s not been making that payment because we don’t have the money to make that payment, but this buyout of [Vitol's infrastructure at WAPA] will make all of that go away. So it is absolutely a critical path item to fixing WAPA, and we’ve reached an agreement to do that.” Key to the successful execution of the agreement is the $150 million line of credit (LOC) Governor Albert Bryan Jr. is seeking legislative approval to establish, Mr. Smith said. He explained that generally speaking, vendor...