Motiva halts diesel expansion at top US refinery

Motiva Enterprises withdrew a permit request from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with regard to expanding the diesel hydrotreater at its Port Arthur, Texas refinery.

The Motiva Port Arthur facility is operated by Royal Dutch Shell (RDS). It is a JV between RDS and Saudi Aramco. The notice gave no formal explanation for the withdrawal of the permit, which was submitted in August 2014.

“Motiva routinely adjusts our business plans, based on company needs and evolving state and federal regulatory requirements at any given time," a company spokesman said.

Motiva’s Port Arthur facility is the largest US refinery with a throughput capacity of 600 Mbpd. The planned expansion of the diesel hydrocracker would increase capacity from 82 Mbpd to 102 Mbpd. Construction was scheduled to begin in April 2015.

The diesel hydrocracker was part of the original Motiva refinery expansion that was completed in March 2012.

The US has increased exports of clean refined products, especially diesel. The US Energy Information Agency reported that weekly total distillate exports have reached 1.14 MMbpd-a 30% increase over 2010 exports.

Other US refiners are increasing diesel production. Valero Energy has added more hydrocracking capacity at the St. Charles and Norco refineries in Louisiana and the Port Arthur, Texas refinery. Marathon Petroleum announced plans to expand it new hydrocracker at the Garyville, Louisiana refinery.