Port Arthur, Texas, December 2007 – Shell Oil Company broke ground on a 325,000 barrel-per-day capacity expansion project at its joint venture Motiva’s refinery in Port Arthur, Texas this morning.  The expansion project will increase the refinery’s crude oil throughput capacity to 600,000 barrels a day making it the largest refinery in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world. 

The 325,000 barrels per day expansion at Port Arthur is equivalent to building the first new refinery in the U.S. in more than 30 years.  The new production capacity is expected to be online around the end of the decade and will increase Motiva’s supply of Shell-branded fuels to the company’s wholesale and direct supply markets.

By utilizing advanced technology in all new system installations and replacing existing systems, Motiva’s expansion will lower most types of emissions from refinery operations on a per barrel basis. For ozone precursors, specifically nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, the expansion of the refinery will actually decrease these emissions from present day levels.