Massive Motiva Port Arthur expansion 30 percent complete
By SARAH MOORE BEAUMONT ENTERPRISE
Feb. 11, 2010, 8:46AM
The numbers are staggering.
Before the Motiva Port Arthur Refinery expansion is completed, 61,000 piles will have been driven into the soupy coastal plain. About 40,000 truckloads of concrete will have been poured and 600 miles of pipe welded and installed.
The end result will be the processing of an extra 325,000 barrels of crude oil per day roughly doubling the facility’s capacity and making it the largest in the nation.
The plant will be able to produce 6 million gallons of gasoline per day or enough to fill up 400,000 cars as well as 3.4 million gallons of diesel.
But all these figures pale in importance to another number: 300. This is the number of breadwinners most of whom should come from Southeast Texas who will find permanent employment at the refinery.
At a topping off celebration at Motiva on Wednesday, company officials said the $7 billion-plus project was on track for startup in early 2012. Topping off refers to the tallest structure being in place in this case the DCU2 coker unit, which processes pitch from the crude unit into gasoline, diesel and petroleum coke.
About 30 percent of construction on the expansion is completed, said Nick Smallwood, project director.