Saudi Aramco has acquired the trading unit of refiner Motiva Enterprises LLC as the state-owned oil giant consolidates its operations in the Americas.
(Bloomberg) —
Saudi Aramco has acquired the trading unit of refiner Motiva Enterprises LLC as the state-owned oil giant consolidates its operations in the Americas.
It also set up a new entity, Houston-based Aramco Trading Americas LLC, which will be the regional office for the Saudi company’s broader trading arm, it said in a statement. ATA will be the sole supplier and offtaker for Motiva, which owns the biggest refinery in the US, the 630,000 barrel-a-day Port Arthur plant.
Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, is already the parent of Motiva. It’s pushing ahead with plans for an initial public offering of its energy-trading business that could value the unit at more than $30 billion, Bloomberg reported in October.
The moves announced Wednesday are “a giant step towards executing our ambitious global growth strategy,” said Mohammed K. Al-Mulhim, chief executive of Aramco’s trading operations, said in the statement.
Read: Aramco Sees Oil Demand Picking Up on China and Aviation Recovery
Other national oil companies in the Persian Gulf are seeking to build their trading businesses, in a shift for the firms that have traditionally stuck to a simple model of pumping crude and exporting it. Now, they’re looking to boost profits by moving into more lucrative areas of the market.
(Updates with Motiva ownership in third paragraph.)
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