PORT ARTHUR — According a press release, Saturday, Saudi Aramco's Chief Executive Officer, Amin Nasser, signed memoranda of understanding for a multi-billion dollar investment with Honeywell and Technip to study petrochemical production technology for a potential chemical plant the company is considering building at Port Arthur's Motiva refinery.
"That would be something we would we welcome. We have always been industrially friendly, Michael Sinegal, Jefferson County Commissioner for precinct 3, said.
According to Reuters Motiva's chief executive Brian Coffman, Motiva was evaluating boosting the 603,000 barrel-per-day Port Arthur refinery's capacity to 1,000,000 or 1,500,000 barrels-per day that would take the refinery from the largest in the U.S. To the largest in the world.
Sinegal says while expansion is always welcome, he hopes that the money that would be coming into Port Arthur and Jefferson County would help better the infrastructure more than it has in the past.
"My concern is that we have had close to $30,000,000,000 worth of expansion here in the last 15 years, and for Port Arthur to look the way it is, is kind of disturbing," Sinegal said, adding, "So if I'm still around, we are going to make sure we have a plan in place to put that money to good use, and hopefully we have leadership in place to do that. "
Commissioner Sinegal also mentioned his desire for jobs at this potential plant to go to Port Arthur and Jefferson County citizens.
Erin Lovelady Lemoine, director of engineering outreach and student services for Lamar works with local companies to facilitate job opportunities for engineering students.
"More expansion means more needs for engineers to help with creating those expansions an planning those expansions and executing those expansions. So I definitely think any expansion can be beneficial to LU engineering and our students," Lemoine said
According to Motiva's statement, final investment decisions on these projects are not expected to be made until 2019 and are dependent on strong economics, competitive incentives, and regulatory support.
12News has received further information from Motiva regarding the likelihood of Port Arthur's selection as the site of expansion:
From Motiva...
Thanks for reaching out to us for additional information. Many media outlets have misinterpreted the announcement made on Saturday, which was focused on Motiva’s first step toward expansion into petrochemicals. The MoUs will study potential petrochemical projects along the U.S. Gulf Coast that could include investments at the Port Arthur Refinery.
In a video shown at Saturday’s event with the Crown Prince in Houston, a mention was made that Motiva also is investigating opportunities to return to a refining scale of 1M to 1.5M barrels per day. However, Motiva does not expect to achieve this increased refining scale through the Port Arthur Refinery.
In regards to your question about security, as the largest refinery in North America we recognize the importance and responsibility to our community and neighbors to ensure safe, reliable and environmentally sound operations. We don’t take this responsibility lightly. Our commitment to protecting both people and the environment is fundamental to who we are.