Largest U.S. refinery now belongs to Saudi Arabia | World Defense

Largest U.S. refinery now belongs to Saudi Arabia

Scorpion

THINK TANK: SENIOR
Joined
Nov 27, 2014
Messages
3,868
Reactions
3,197 56 0
Country
Saudi Arabia
Location
Saudi Arabia
Largest U.S. refinery now belongs to Saudi Arabia

Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco appear to be getting a divorce, breaking up their joint venture in U.S.-based refining assets.

The two companies joined together to create Motiva Enterprises LLC in 1998, a 50-50 joint venture that operated three refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. But Shell and Saudi Aramco have seen their interests head in different directions. "It is now time for the partners to pursue their independent downstream goals," said Abdulrahman Al-Wuhaib, a senior vice president of Saudi Aramco’s downstream unit.
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Oil-Prices-Jump-As-Dollar-Hits-5-Month-Lows.html
Reuters reported that the relationship started to fray after Motiva announced a $10 billion expansion of the Port Arthur refinery, doubling its capacity to 603,000 barrels per day, making it America’s largest refinery. It produced gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. A leak shortly after the expansion was completed in 2012 led to ballooning costs, exacerbating tension between Shell and Aramco. A 2015 workers strike also sparked anger between the two companies.

The two companies signed a nonbinding letter of intent, a plan that would divide up Motiva’s refineries between them. The refineries have a combined capacity of 1.1 million barrels per day and are all located close to each other. The breakup will allow Saudi Aramco to take over the Port Arthur refinery and 26 distribution terminals, and Aramco will also hold onto the Motiva brand name. Shell will take over the other two refineries, Convent and Norco, both located in Louisiana. Shell said that it would operate the two refineries as one plant with a combined throughput of 500,000 barrels per day.

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/Oil-Prices-Rally-To-2016-Highs-On-Weaker-Dollar.html
The split will hand the largest U.S. refinery to the state-owned Saudi oil company. The Wall Street Journalspeculates that it could also pave the way for some sort of listing of Aramco’s assets in a public offering, something that Saudi officials have alluded to for several months. Few expect Aramco to list its upstream production assets in Saudi Arabia; downstream assets are much more likely to be offered up.

Largest U.S. refinery now belongs to Saudi Arabia
 

djdefense

MEMBER
Joined
Jan 21, 2016
Messages
151
Reactions
32 2 0
Country
India
Location
India
Hmm.. so UAE controls US ports, Russia controls other American natural resources and Saudi Arabia controls the biggest American refinery. And Trump wants to keep who out of the country? :p
 

Jeff Y.

NEW RECRUIT
Joined
Apr 5, 2016
Messages
5
Reactions
1 0 0
Country
USA
Location
USA
Interesting, though it does not change much politically speaking. What I think may be the biggest change is a somewhat increased leverage from the Saudis on the US. Seeing as the Obama administration is moving away from close ties to Saudi Arabia, including embracing the end of sanctions on Iran, Saudi Arabia may try to use the Port Arthur refinery (and the jobs associated with it) as a bargaining chip.
 
Top