Motiva Enterprises Llc News

Shell and Saudi Aramco on Wednesday announced plans to break up Motiva Enterprises LLC and divide up the assets, almost two decades after the U.S. oil refining and marketing joint venture was formed. Under the terms of a non-binding letter of intent, Saudi Aramco will retain the Motiva name, assume sole ownership of the Port Arthur, Texas refinery, the biggest in the United States, and retain 26 distribution terminals, according to a statement. It will also have an exclusive license to use the Shell brand for gasoline and diesel sales in Texas, the majority of the Mississippi Valley, the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic markets, it said. Shell will assume sole ownership of the Norco…

Exxon Mobil Corp is considering a multi-billion-dollar plan to expand its Beaumont, Texas, refinery into the country's largest, the first major refining investment of the U.S. shale oil boom, people with knowledge of the deliberations said. The expansion of the 344,600 barrel-per-day (bpd) Beaumont refinery, if carried out, would be completed by 2020 and potentially double its size with the addition of a third crude distillation unit (CDU), the sources said. More modest near-term projects to renew and expand so-called coking units to help refine more heavy crude already are under way, they said. If Exxon presses ahead, the investment would be a further indication that the American oil giant is breaking ranks with many of its big global rivals…

The very large crude carriers (VLCC's) will load at Ras Tanura terminal for deliveries to a US Gulf Coast port next month. The very large crude carriers will each load 280,000 metric tons of oil at Saudi's Ras Tanura terminal between April 3 and April 9 for the voyage via the Cape of Good Hope to the Port Arthur, Texas terminal, reports Bloomberg from various sources. Saudi Aramco, as Saudi Arabian Oil Co. is known, and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) operate refineries through Motiva Enterprises LLC. The joint venture is bringing its Port Arthur, Texas plant back to full capacity after a series of unplanned shutdowns. The facility will be able to process as much as 600,000 barrels a day and is the nation’s biggest. Source: Bloomberg

According to reports, a fire broke out at a Motiva Enterprises LLC fuel terminal dock in Providence, Rhode Island, on Tuesday night, shutting the terminal. A 25,000-ton capacity Danish-flagged gasoline tanker was preparing to discharge its cargo when the fire occurred, according to a U.S. Coast Guard official. Both the Coast Guard and Motiva, a joint venture of Saudi Refining and Royal Dutch Shell's Shell Oil, said the cause of the fire was under investigation. It could not be confirmed that the blaze was caused by lightning, though officials could confirm there were storms in the area Tuesday night. The tanker Nordeuropa, owned by Norden in Denmark, suffered damage to its hydraulic pump systems and melted oil discharge hoses, the Coast Guard said.