OREANDA-NEWS. June 9, 2012. Five years in the making, the launch of the USD 10 billion Motiva Refinery expansion project in Port Arthur, Texas, marked the start of what is now North America’s largest refining complex.

With the turn of a ceremonial valve by Saudi Aramco president and CEO Khalid A. Al-Falih and Royal Dutch Shell chief executive Peter Voser, history was made May 31 during a ceremony marking the completion of the huge refinery.

The magnitude of this expansion is impressive on many fronts. The Port Arthur Crude Expansion Project (CEP) is so massive that it basically represents the building of a new refinery – the first in the U.S. in 30 years in terms of capacity and magnitude of the investment. The facility’s daily crude oil processing capacity has more than doubled to 600,000 barrels per day, making it North America’s largest oil refinery and one of the top 10 refineries in the world.

Motiva was formed in 1998 as a refining and marketing joint venture between affiliates of Shell and Saudi Aramco. It is a limited liability company (LLC) in which Saudi Refining, Inc. (SRI) has a 50-50 interest.

Along with the additional capacity, the refinery has increased its flexibility to process a wide variety of crude oils, ranging from relatively light to heavy. The major products of the refinery are gasoline, distillates, jet fuel, and base oils. Technical enhancements to the refinery provide the flexibility to vary gasoline and diesel production to accommodate changing market conditions.

Increased refining capacity as well as operational flexibility and efficiencies are two major hallmarks of the project, but perhaps the greatest significance is what this project represents to the industry and the American energy market.

The project is one component in the broader strategy for Saudi Aramco. Despite the global downstream sector undergoing short-term pressures, Saudi Aramco firmly believes the business has healthy prospects, especially for companies that take a long-term perspective and wisely invest in assets, technology, and people through the right partnerships.

“Our joint investment in Port Arthur with our partner Shell, as well as our other downstream partnerships around the globe is testament to that belief,” commented Saudi Aramco president and CEO Khalid A. Al-Falih. “In fact, over the next decade, we will push the total worldwide capacity of refineries we own fully or through joint ventures up to some 8 million barrels a day, the largest of any oil company in the world.” He referred to the investment in the Motiva Refinery as a “vote of confidence” in the downstream sector.

The project further illustrates that large petroleum enterprises such as Saudi Aramco are particularly well positioned to maximize long-term value creation from integrated activities all along the value chain, from the reservoir through to product delivery.

“While this refinery has a long and proud history, it now has an even brighter and more promising future,” Al-Falih told dignitaries and guests gathered to celebrate the milestone event.

The expanded facility allows for the production of about 23 million gallons of transportation fuels a day and will help in reducing bottlenecks that contribute to higher gasoline prices in the United States.

“This expansion is another major milestone in Saudi Aramco’s ambitious plans toward becoming one of the top leading globally integrated oil and petrochemical companies in the world,” emphasized Khalid Al-Buainain, Saudi Aramco’s senior vice president of Downstream. “It also reinforces our commitment to the world energy needs while creating value not only for the enterprise but also for the local communities wherever we operate. We are proud to have such a successful joint venture in Motiva and look forward to its continued success and prosperity.”

During the ceremony, Motiva CEO Bob Pease commented on this collaborative effort. “The refinery that has emerged from these collective efforts is the largest in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world. It is also the nation’s largest manufacturer of lubricant-based oils,” he said.  “As one of the longest-lived and most successful joint ventures in the industry, Motiva has established an ambitious goal – to be in the top quartile in every essential aspect of fuels and lubricants manufacture and supply. We already distribute and market the No. 1 branded fuels product in the nation, and now, thanks to your help, we’ve turned one of America’s first refineries into its biggest.”