Saudis take 100% control of America's largest oil refinery

[Saif al-Arab]

America's largest oil refinery is now fully owned by Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Aramco, the kingdom's state-owned oil behemoth, took 100% control of the sprawling Port Arthur refinery in Texas on Monday, completing a deal that was first announced last year.

Port Arthur is considered the crown jewel of the US refinery system. The Gulf Coast facility can process 600,000 barrels of oil per day, making it the largest refinery in North America.

Aramco previously owned 50% of Port Arthur through a joint venture co-owned with Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA)called Motiva Enterprises.

But the two oil giants had a rocky relationship and reached a deal in March 2016 to separate their assets. Shell put out a statement on Monday confirming the "completion" of that break-up.

In addition to Port Arthur, Aramco is acquiring full ownership of 24 distribution terminals. Aramco also gets the exclusive right to sell Shell-branded gasoline and diesel in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, the eastern half of Texas and the majority of Florida.

Related: Trump's energy plan isn't a game-changer

Aramco's deal allows the oil giant to shore up one of its best customers -- the US -- ahead of next year's planned IPO. Now that it controls the largest American refinery, Aramco can send more Saudi crude into the US for refining to sell to North American drivers.

Saudi Arabia is already America's second-largest source of crude, behind only Canada. The US imported 1.3 million barrels of Saudi crude a day in February, up 32% from last year, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Saudi Arabia is hoping the Aramco IPO will be valued at a stunning $2 trillion. The kingdom continues to grapple with low oil prices and a bloated budget, making it critical that the Aramco IPO goes off without a hitch. Saudi Arabia, the largest oil exporter in the world, dramatically slashed taxes on Aramco in March in an effort to quell concern about the oil giant's valuation.

Related: Saudi Arabia reverses pay cuts for state workers

Even as Saudi Arabia extends its reach in the US, the Trump administration has pushed for American energy independence by unleashing the domestic energy industry. Trump said in a May 2016 speech that he wants to bring about independence from "our foes and the oil cartels."

Trump also threatened before he was elected to halt imports of oil from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries if they didn't commit ground troops to fight ISIS.

After Trump was elected, Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih later warned that blocking the kingdom's crude could backfire.

"Trump will see the benefits and I think the oil industry will also be advising him accordingly that blocking trade in any product is not healthy," Falih told the Financial Times in November.

Despite that rhetoric, relations between the US and Saudi Arabia appear to have improved under Trump. Saudi Arabia's powerful deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Trump in the Oval Office in March, a meeting heralded by the kingdom as an "historic turning point"between the two countries.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/01/investing/saudi-arabia-buys-largest-oil-refinery-port-arthur/



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amin_H._Nasser

 

[EgyptianAmerican]

America's largest oil refinery is now fully owned by Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Aramco, the kingdom's state-owned oil behemoth, took 100% control of the sprawling Port Arthur refinery in Texas on Monday, completing a deal that was first announced last year.

Port Arthur is considered the crown jewel of the US refinery system. The Gulf Coast facility can process 600,000 barrels of oil per day, making it the largest refinery in North America.

Aramco previously owned 50% of Port Arthur through a joint venture co-owned with Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA)called Motiva Enterprises.

But the two oil giants had a rocky relationship and reached a deal in March 2016 to separate their assets. Shell put out a statement on Monday confirming the "completion" of that break-up.

In addition to Port Arthur, Aramco is acquiring full ownership of 24 distribution terminals. Aramco also gets the exclusive right to sell Shell-branded gasoline and diesel in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, the eastern half of Texas and the majority of Florida.

Related: Trump's energy plan isn't a game-changer

Aramco's deal allows the oil giant to shore up one of its best customers -- the US -- ahead of next year's planned IPO. Now that it controls the largest American refinery, Aramco can send more Saudi crude into the US for refining to sell to North American drivers.

Saudi Arabia is already America's second-largest source of crude, behind only Canada. The US imported 1.3 million barrels of Saudi crude a day in February, up 32% from last year, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Saudi Arabia is hoping the Aramco IPO will be valued at a stunning $2 trillion. The kingdom continues to grapple with low oil prices and a bloated budget, making it critical that the Aramco IPO goes off without a hitch. Saudi Arabia, the largest oil exporter in the world, dramatically slashed taxes on Aramco in March in an effort to quell concern about the oil giant's valuation.

Related: Saudi Arabia reverses pay cuts for state workers

Even as Saudi Arabia extends its reach in the US, the Trump administration has pushed for American energy independence by unleashing the domestic energy industry. Trump said in a May 2016 speech that he wants to bring about independence from "our foes and the oil cartels."

Trump also threatened before he was elected to halt imports of oil from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries if they didn't commit ground troops to fight ISIS.

After Trump was elected, Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih later warned that blocking the kingdom's crude could backfire.

"Trump will see the benefits and I think the oil industry will also be advising him accordingly that blocking trade in any product is not healthy," Falih told the Financial Times in November.

Despite that rhetoric, relations between the US and Saudi Arabia appear to have improved under Trump. Saudi Arabia's powerful deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Trump in the Oval Office in March, a meeting heralded by the kingdom as an "historic turning point"between the two countries.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/01/investing/saudi-arabia-buys-largest-oil-refinery-port-arthur/



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amin_H._Nasser

Damn dude... Saudis have been busy

 

[ali_raza]

saudis are being pragmatic these days from indonesia to china to america they are investing everywhere to diversify there income great mashallah

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Aramco gets even bigger.

Saudi Arabia is hoping the Aramco IPO will be valued at a stunning $2 trillion.

saudis are being pragmatic these days from indonesia to china to america they are investing everywhere to diversify there income great mashallah

Yes it is a very intelligent move on their part to diversify their investments all over the globe. China is trying to do the same.

 

[KediKesenFare3]

Aramco gets even bigger.







Yes it is a very intelligent move on their part to diversify their investments all over the globe. China is trying to do the same.

Saudi Arabia's decision to cut tax paid by national oil giant Saudi Aramco has increased its value by $1 trillion, an analyst estimated on Tuesday ahead of Aramco's initial public offer of shares, expected to be the world's largest.

The government said on Monday it was cutting the tax rate for Aramco to 50 percent from 85 percent as part of preparations for next year's IPO, which would sell as much as 5 percent of the company.

"By drastically reducing the tax rate, more cash will go to the potential owners of Saudi Aramco compared to the government," said Espen Erlingsen, vice-president for analysis at Rystad Energy, an oil and gas consulting service based in Oslo and New York.

"Assuming long-term oil prices averaging $75 per barrel, the valuation of the company increases from $0.4 trillion to $1.4 trillion," he said in a report.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-aramco-ipo-valuation-idUSKBN16Z1SH

They need structural reforms. More money won't solve any problems. Anyway, I hope they turn the corner.

 

[Thəorətic Muslim]

 

[El Sidd]

Saudi's approach towards controlling ' monatery ' menace is admirable.

 

[EgyptianAmerican]

 

[Saif al-Arab]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_leopard
Love the avatar bro.

 

[EgyptianAmerican]

Love the avatar bro.

Thanks, they are a lovely animal and it truly is a horror that they are critically endangered.

 

[El Sidd]

Thanks, they are a lovely animal and it truly is a horror that they are critically endangered.

Yemenis would not appreciate your sarcasm.

 

[Brutas]

It seems more like an insurance policy (investing considerable amount to buy a refinery in Texas), to "ensure" the civilized world doesn't demand regime change in the desert kingdom which is taking place every where in the region.

 

[El Sidd]

It seems more like an insurance policy (investing considerable amount to buy a refinery in Texas), to "ensure" the civilized world doesn't demand regime change in the desert kingdom which is taking place every where in the region.

The day there comes a forced regime change in Riyadh. You better be ready with a pencil and a globe to redraw it. Get an eraser too.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Yemenis would not appreciate your sarcasm.

Most of the remaining 200 wild Arabian Leopard live in KSA (Hijaz and Southwestern KSA) with the remaining individuals being found in Yemen and Oman.

Speaking about wild animals in Arabia just in the past century alone the last wild Arabian lions was killed in KSA in 1926.

"A text that was written in the second century BC, over two thousand years ago, by Agatharchides of Cnidos reflects the Ancient Greek’s fascination with wild animals. Indeed, there was a flourishing trade in captive carnivores during the late Hellenistic period and subsequently during the height of the Roman Empire. Any lion or leopard unfortunate enough to be trapped in Arabia was quite likely to end up in a cage in Athens or Rome where they became objects of show or participants in some of the blood-spilling ‘games’ of the period. This interest in exotic wildlife resulted in several quite informative texts on Arabia’s wildlife at this time.

“The lions of Arabia”, wrote Agatharchides, “are less hairy and bolder. They are uniform in colour just are those in Babylonia. The sheen of their mane is such that the hair on the back of their neck gleams like gold. …the leopards are unlike those found in caria and Lycia. their bodies are large, and they are much better able to endure wounds and pain. In strength, moreover, they surpass the others by as much as a wild animal does a domesticated one.”​

https://snarla.wordpress.com/2007/08/

Many animals have become extinct in the Arabian Peninsula and the most famous one is the lion. Actually one can find rock art depicting lions all over Arabia. People also made statues of lions. In addition Arabs admired it so much that they called their children by the lions name.

Such as Assad, Hamza, Haydar, Laith, Sab', Najidh, Wail, Usama, Shibl etc. to name a few.

Arabs admired lions and its courage and many poems and much literature is a testament of this. Hunting lions was also a status symbol.

\



Lions shown on rock art in KSA.

Africa - the homeland of the lion.



Theoretically speaking you could introduce wild lions to Yemen and parts of KSA since Ethiopia which has a somewhat similar fauna, landscapes, climate etc. and relatively close geographic proximity have wild lions.
But that would only be possible in very small amounts and probably only in national parks.

It would be wonderful if the lion returned to Arabia.

Also cheetahs (in the wild) became extinct in the last century as did the Arabian ostrich (of great religious and cultural importance in the ancient Near East (Arabia, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Sham) with the last wild Arabian ostrich dying near Petra in 1966.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_ostrich


Arabian ostrich painting from The Book of Animals by al-Jahiz.
Syria, 14th century.


Depiction from Petra, Jordan


Engraving of an ostrich hunt in Palestine from 1877

Today the closely related African ostrich is living in the wild in Arabia again after being introduced.



The Saudi gazelle became officially extinct in 2008 but there are reports of it still roaming Arabia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_gazelle

Hopefully the Arabian leopard will survive in the wild and in the existing national parks in the same fashion that the magnificent Arabian oryx was saved and today its numbers are growing and very healthy.





I was very happy when the negative development ceased and turned for the better.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_oryx

 

[HAIDER]

Most of the remaining 200 wild Arabian Leopard live in KSA (Hijaz and Southwestern KSA) with the remaining individuals being found in Yemen and Oman.

Speaking about wild animals in Arabia just in the past century alone the last wild Arabian lions was killed in KSA in 1926.

"A text that was written in the second century BC, over two thousand years ago, by Agatharchides of Cnidos reflects the Ancient Greek’s fascination with wild animals. Indeed, there was a flourishing trade in captive carnivores during the late Hellenistic period and subsequently during the height of the Roman Empire. Any lion or leopard unfortunate enough to be trapped in Arabia was quite likely to end up in a cage in Athens or Rome where they became objects of show or participants in some of the blood-spilling ‘games’ of the period. This interest in exotic wildlife resulted in several quite informative texts on Arabia’s wildlife at this time.

“The lions of Arabia”, wrote Agatharchides, “are less hairy and bolder. They are uniform in colour just are those in Babylonia. The sheen of their mane is such that the hair on the back of their neck gleams like gold. …the leopards are unlike those found in caria and Lycia. their bodies are large, and they are much better able to endure wounds and pain. In strength, moreover, they surpass the others by as much as a wild animal does a domesticated one.”​

https://snarla.wordpress.com/2007/08/

Many animals have become extinct in the Arabian Peninsula and the most famous one is the lion. Actually one can find rock art depicting lions all over Arabia. People also made statues of lions. In addition Arabs admired it so much that they called their children by the lions name.

Such as Assad, Hamza, Haydar, Laith, Sab', Najidh, Wail, Usama, Shibl etc. to name a few.

Arabs admired lions and its courage and many poems and much literature is a testament of this. Hunting lions was also a status symbol.

\



Lions shown on rock art in KSA.

Africa - the homeland of the lion.



Theoretically speaking you could introduce wild lions to Yemen and parts of KSA since Ethiopia which has a somewhat similar fauna, landscapes, climate etc. and relatively close geographic proximity have wild lions.
But that would only be possible in very small amounts and probably only in national parks.

It would be wonderful if the lion returned to Arabia.

Also cheetahs (in the wild) became extinct in the last century as did the Arabian ostrich (of great religious and cultural importance in the ancient Near East (Arabia, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Sham) with the last wild Arabian ostrich dying near Petra in 1966.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_ostrich


Arabian ostrich painting from The Book of Animals by al-Jahiz.
Syria, 14th century.


Depiction from Petra, Jordan


Engraving of an ostrich hunt in Palestine from 1877

Today the closely related African ostrich is living in the wild in Arabia again after being introduced.



The Saudi gazelle became officially extinct in 2008 but there are reports of it still roaming Arabia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_gazelle

Hopefully the Arabian leopard will survive in the wild and in the existing national parks in the same fashion that the magnificent Arabian oryx was saved and today its numbers are growing and very healthy.





I was very happy when the negative development ceased and turned for the better.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_oryx

mekshat is arabic forum and its problem for me..............sorry i am not interested in oil etc etc. I am more in historic art and culture ...