NPRA: Port Arthur Expansion Benefits Consumers, Surrounding Community

NPRA, the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, Executive Vice President Charles T. Drevna today praised the announcement by NPRA member Shell Oil Company that it would begin construction on a 325,000 barrel-per-day (b/d) expansion project at the company’s joint venture Motiva’s refinery in Port Arthur, Texas. According to Shell, the new project “will increase the refinery’s crude oil throughput capacity to 600,000 b/d, making it the largest refinery in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world.” The new project is also expected to create thousands of construction jobs and 300 new full-time jobs upon its completion, meaning a significant investment in the local economy.

“NPRA members like Shell Oil are committed to providing the cleanest, safest, most reliable and affordable fuels they can to American consumers,” Drevna said. “This $7 billion reinvestment by Shell to significantly expand capacity at the Motiva Port Arthur Refinery, even in the midst of conflicting signals from policymakers calling for reduced gasoline production in the face of increasing demand, will go a long way to help meet that demand.

“The announcement of this project should send a clear signal to policymakers that incentives for domestic refiners to reinvest in new capacity are working as they were intended, and new efforts pending in Congress to purposely exclude refiners from those incentives provided through the Section 199 deduction, or other punitive measures under consideration, should be rejected.”

NPRA members include more than 450 companies, including virtually all US refiners and petrochemical manufacturers. Our members supply consumers with a wide variety of products and services used daily in their homes and businesses. These products include gasoline, diesel fuel, home heating oil, jet fuel, lubricants and the chemicals that serve as “building blocks” in making everything from plastics to clothing to medicine to computers.