Chevron Corp. completed a $350 million purchase of a refinery in the Houston suburb of Pasadena, Texas, from Brazil's national oil company, Petrobras, Chevron said in a statement on May 1.
The sale was agreed to in January, but Chevron put the transfer of the 112,229-barrel-per-day (bbl/d) plant's ownership on hold on April 2, telling Petrobras it had to prove the refinery would operate as promised, sources told Reuters.
The Pasadena refinery is the second on the U.S. Gulf Coast for Chevron, which is based in San Ramon, California.
Chevron wanted the refinery to process sweet crude coming from its oil fields in the Permian Basin of Texas.
"This acquisition builds on the strength of our existing Gulf Coast business, enabling us to supply more of our retail market in the region with Chevron-produced products, and positions us for connectivity to our strong upstream assets in the Permian Basin," said Mark Nelson, Chevron’s executive vice president for downstream and chemicals.
In addition to the refinery, Chevron acquired PRSI, a Petrobras subsidiary that operates the refinery and owns subsidiary PRSI Trading, which trades in crude and refined products markets. PRSI owns a 5.1-million-barrel storage tank farm and an additional 143 acres (58 hectares) of land along the Houston Ship Channel.
Chevron also operates a 352,000-bbl/d refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
The Pasadena refinery was at the center of several investigations in Brazil of corruption within Petrobras.
The Brazilian oil company paid $360 million for half of the Pasadena refinery in 2006, more than eight times what its previous owner, Astra Oil, a unit of Belgian-controlled Astra Transcor Energy, paid for the complex a year earlier.
By 2012, Petrobras had sunk $1.18 billion into it, including the cost of buying out Astra’s remaining half after a legal dispute with Astra.
Recommended Reading
Tech Trends: Halliburton’s Carbon Capturing Cement Solution
2024-02-20 - Halliburton’s new CorrosaLock cement solution provides chemical resistance to CO2 and minimizes the impact of cyclic loading on the cement barrier.
To Dawson: EOG, SM Energy, More Aim to Push Midland Heat Map North
2024-02-22 - SM Energy joined Birch Operations, EOG Resources and Callon Petroleum in applying the newest D&C intel to areas north of Midland and Martin counties.
Range Resources Expecting Production Increase in 4Q Production Results
2024-02-08 - Range Resources reports settlement gains from 2020 North Louisiana asset sale.
Sinopec Brings West Sichuan Gas Field Onstream
2024-03-14 - The 100 Bcm sour gas onshore field, West Sichuan Gas Field, is expected to produce 2 Bcm per year.
TotalEnergies Restarts Gas Production at Tyra Hub in Danish North Sea
2024-03-22 - TotalEnergies said the Tyra hub will produce 5.7 MMcm of gas and 22,000 bbl/d of condensate.