Aramco eyes new petchem plant in Texas

Houston : Saudi Arabia’s national oil company Saudi Aramco is expected to disclose initial steps toward a multibillion-dollar chemical plant in Texas, according to sources familiar with the company’s U.S. operations. Saudi Aramco has been weighing an expansion of its U.S. subsidiary Motiva Enterprises LLC’s Port Arthur, Texas refinery, already the largest in the United States by capacity.

But Motiva wants to first move into petrochemicals, using abundant natural gas from U.S. shale fields to make the precursors for plastics, the sources said.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is expected to attend an event in Houston where Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih and Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser are to discuss the plans, according to a Saudi Aramco representative.

“Motiva is actively exploring a number of opportunities as part of its growth strategy,” the company said on Friday. “These opportunities include locations where we currently operate as well as new ones.”

Saudi Aramco last year said it would invest $18 billion in Motiva’s Port Arthur refinery, which can process up to 603,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd).

Motiva wants to add an ethane cracker near its refinery that could produce more than 1.5 million tons of ethylene a year, the sources said.