Chevron buys Pasadena refinery from Petrobras in $350m deal

Chevron USA (CUSA) has completed the $350m acquisition of a refinery in Pasadena, Texas, from Petrobras America, a subsidiary of Brazilian state-owned oil and gas producer Petrobras.

Chevron reached an agreement with Petrobras in January to purchase all the outstanding shares and equity interests of Pasadena Refining System, Inc. (PRSI). The deal includes the refinery and PRSI.

The acquisition of the PRSI’s 466-acre Pasadena complex adds a second refinery to CUSA’s Gulf Coast downstream business. The other refinery owned by the downstream business is located in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

Chevron Downstream and Chemicals executive vice-president Mark Nelson said: “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.”

The Pasadena refinery is capable of processing around 110,000bpd of light crude.

The acquisition of the refinery will offer direct pipeline connections to increasing crude oil production, as well as connections to major product pipelines.

The refinery also has dock access to receive and ship crude oil and refined products.

The PRSI refinery also includes a 5.1-million-barrel tank farm. The complex has 143 acres of additional land.

Chevron will use the refinery to process sweet crude coming from its oil fields in the Texas-based Permian Basin, Reuters reported.

According to the news agency, Petrobras invested more than $1bn in the Pasadena refinery by 2012, including the cost to take full ownership of the asset.

Last month, Reuters reported that Chevron asked the seller to prove the refinery will function as promised before the acquisition is completed.