Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) has chartered another four very large crude tankers to carry oil to the Gulf of Mexico in October. So far this year the oil giant has sent four tankers a month to refineries in the Gulf, but following rumours that a large refinery will soon be reopened, they have decided to double their crude export, transporting for an extra 16 million barrels a month.
The 600,000 barrel a day Motiva Enterprises LLC refinery in Texas, owned by Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco, had to shut down one of its 325,000 barrels a day units back in June due to a contamination which has caused cracks in stainless steel piping.
The unit had only started operating in May as part of a $10 billion expansion which saw the refinery's capacity reach almost 600,000 barrels a day, making it the largest in the US.
Repairs on the unit are expected to be completed this month, tests will take place through November, and then in December the unit will begin to refine crude once again.
Tankers take around 40 days to sail from Saudi Arabia to the Gulf of Mexico, so the cargo should reach the refinery around the second week of December.
By. Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com
Charles is a writer for Oilprice.com More
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