Fri Sep 21, 2007 11:45 AM BST
NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell will go ahead with a 325,000 barrel-per-day capacity expansion of its Motiva refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, at a cost of $7 billion, the Anglo-Dutch oil group said on Friday.
The 285,000 bpd refinery is owned by Motiva Enterprises LLC, Shell’s joint venture with Saudi Refining Co.
“The expansion project will increase the refinery’s crude oil throughput capacity to 600,000 bpd, making it the largest refinery in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world,” Shell, the world’s second-biggest non-government controlled oil group, said in a statement.
A spokesman for the group said the refinery expansion would cost $7 billion.
Motiva said in a separate statement it has got the go ahead to begin construction from both its owners and has awarded the main constuction contract to a Bechtel/Jacobs (JEC.N: Quote, Profile , Research) joint venture.
Shell Oil Co, the U.S. unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile , Research) (RDSb.L: Quote, Profile , Research), said the expansion is equivalent to building the first new U.S. refinery in more than 30 years.
Shares in the group were 0.2 percent down in London at 20.87 pounds.
There are no approvals for new refineries in the United States, leaving expansion as the main option to increase capacity.
U.S. refiners have grown flush on a tight balance between expanding demand for oil products and only a slow growth in supply in recent years that has made the U.S. market more dependent on imports.
Strains in U.S. refining capacity following hurricanes, maintenance and accidents have contributed to the spike in the oil price over $84 a barrel. U.S. WTI crude hit a record high of $84.10 on Thursday.
(Additional reporting by Alexandra Hudson in Amsterdam)
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
