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
Delivering Dividends Through Digital Technology
2024-12-30 - Increasing automation is creating a step change across the oil and gas life cycle.
E&Ps Pivot from the Pricey Permian
2025-02-01 - SM Energy, Ovintiv and Devon Energy were rumored to be hunting for Permian M&A—but they ultimately inked deals in cheaper basins. Experts say it’s a trend to watch as producers shrug off high Permian prices for runway in the Williston, Eagle Ford, the Uinta and the Montney.
E&P Highlights: Feb. 10, 2025
2025-02-10 - Here’s a roundup of the latest E&P headlines, from a Beetaloo well stimulated in Australia to new oil production in China.
E&P Highlights: Dec. 16, 2024
2024-12-16 - Here’s a roundup of the latest E&P headlines, including a pair of contracts awarded offshore Brazil, development progress in the Tishomingo Field in Oklahoma and a partnership that will deploy advanced electric simul-frac fleets across the Permian Basin.
E&P Highlights: Dec. 30, 2024
2024-12-30 - Here’s a roundup of the latest E&P headlines, including a substantial decline in methane emissions from the Permian Basin and progress toward a final investment decision on Energy Transfer’s Lake Charles LNG project.