Saudi Aramco plans an investment of up to $30 billion in its U.S. subsidiary Motiva Enterprsies LLC, the company said in an announcement at a business summit in Saudi Arabia.
The company said that $12 billion would be the initial investment in a project to expand refining capacity at Motiva’s Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, already the largest in the United States, and to extend Motiva’s operations in the petrochemical value chain, according to a statement about the investment.
A likely additional investment of $18 billion is expected in Motiva by 2023, it said.
Since the completion of an expansion of the Port Arthur refinery in 2012, which more than doubled its capacity to refine crude oil to 603,000 barrels per day (bpd), Motiva has weighed plans for further expansion of the plant.
Saudi Aramco has also looked at acquiring at least one additional Gulf Coast refinery and visited chemical plants up for sale.
Vision 2030 is a plan announced last year by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to diversify the Saudi economy away from reliance on oil production.
On May 1, Motiva became an Aramco subsidiary with the breakup of a 19-year partnership with Shell. Under the breakup agreement, Aramco retained the Motiva name and the Port Arthur refinery along with distribution operations across seven states. More
Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Tom Brown (erwin.seba@thomsonreuters.com; +1-713-210-8508; Reuters Messaging: erwin.seba.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)
