According to OGJ, the Caribbean region has a combined 1.7 million bbl/d of refining capacity. Smaller refineries produce petroleum products for local demand, whereas the larger facilities are geared towards exports to the United States and other regional markets. The Caribbean is also an important storage location for crude oil brought in from outside the region.

The largest refinery in the Caribbean is the Hovensa facility in the U.S. Virgin Islands, with a crude charge capacity of 495,000 bbl/d. Hovensa, a joint venture of PdVSA and Amerada Hess, sends most of its refined product output to the United States. Other large facilities in the region include the 320,000-bbl/d Isla refinery in the Netherlands Antilles, operated by PdVSA; the 230,000-bbl/d San Nicolas in Aruba, operated by Valero; and the 165,000-bbl/d Pointe-a-Pierre in Trinidad and Tobago, operated by Petrotrin. Both the Hovensa and Isla refineries source the bulk of their crude oil supplies form Venezuela.

A proposed $2 billion refinery near St. Elizabeth, Jamaica has entered advanced planning stages. The Jamaican government has tentatively approved the facility, pending an environmental impact statement. Project sponsor Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) has stated that the facility will have an initial crude refining capacity of 250,000 bbl/d.

According to Cupet and industry sources, Cuba has 138,400 bbl/d of installed refining capacity at four facilites: Cienfuegos (76,000 bbl/d), Havana (34,000 bbl/d), Santiago (22,000 bbl/d), and Cabaiguan (5,000 bbl/d). Cupet announced that actual output from its refineries was only 61,000 bbl/d in 2006. In particular, construction on the Soviet-era Cienfuegos refinery was never completed, and the facility is not currently operational. Cupet and PdVSA have reached an agreement to complete construction of the Cienfuegos refinery, upgrade the facility with modern equipment, and increase its capacity. According to media accounts, Cienfuegos is slated for startup in December 2007 at an initial capacity of 65,000 bbl/d, eventually reaching 103,000 bbl/d.

In 2006, the United States imported 542,500 bbl/d of petroleum products from the Caribbean, or 15 percent of its total petroleum product imports. The U.S. Virgin Islands represents the bulk of the region's exports to the United States (325,860 bbl/d), followed by Aruba (120,540 bbl/d) and Trinidad and Tobago (49,960 bbl/d). Proximity to crude oil produced in Mexico and Venezuela and the large U.S. market are driving efforts to increase export-oriented refining capacity in the Caribbean.