Foreign Direct Investment in U.S. Energy 2006 Contacts | Home

Release Date: June 2009
Next Release Date: February 2010 

Download Full Report (PDF format)


Petroleum Refining

The U.S. petroleum refining capacity owned by FDI affiliates decreased in 2006, largely as the result of the sale by Petróleos de Venezuela of its share in a joint venture, the Lyondell-Citgo refinery in Houston, Texas, with a capacity of 270 thousand barrels per day, to its partner in the venture, Lyondell Chemical (see table below). This sale more than offset the capacity increases from foreign direct investors’ purchases of three smaller refineries, two by Alon Israel Oil and one by Frčre-Bourgeois (Belgium), and the expansion by Transworld Oil (Bermuda) of its Lake Charles, Louisiana refinery. Petróleo Brasileiro (Brazil) entered the U.S. petroleum refining industry in 2006 through the acquisition of 50 percent of the Pasadena Refinery in Texas from Frčre-Bourgeois, which had purchased the entire refinery from Crown Central Petroleum the year before. The decline in total FDI-affiliate refining capacity was in contrast to a small increase in domestically owned capacity. These two changes reinforced each other to cut the share of FDI-affiliate refinery capacity, which has been drifting downward since 1999 (see figure).

Number of Crude Oil Refineries and Refining Capacity* in the United States of FDI-Affiliate Companies, 2005 and 2006
Foreign Parent (Country) Number of Refineries Total Crude Oil Distillation Capacity
(Thousand Barrels per day)
2005 2006 2005 2006 2005 - 2006 Percent Change
BP (Egland and Wales) 6 6 1,476 1,461 -1.0
Petróleos de Venezuelaa 7 6 1,271 1,005 -20.9
Royal Dutch Shell (England & Wales) and
Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia)
3 3 747 762 2.1
Royal Dutch Shell (England & Wales) 5 5 534 533 -0.3
Royal Dutch Shell (England & Wales) and
Petróleos Mexicanos (Mexico)
1 1 334 334 0.0
Total (France) 1 1 232 232 0.0
Alon Israel Oil 1 3 67 150 123.9
Frčre-Bourgeois (Belgium)b and
Petróleo Brasileiro (Brazil)
0 1 0 100 - -
Frčre-Bourgeois (Belgium)b 1 1 100 38 -62.2
Suncor Energy (Canada)c R2 2 R94 94 0.0
Transworld Oil (Bermuda) 1 1 30 78 160.0
Delek (Israel) 1 1 58 58 0.0
Total FDI-Affiliate Companies R31 31 R4,942 4,844 -2.0
Total United States 144 143 17,339 17,443 0.6
Percent FDI-Affiliate Companies R21.7 21.7 R28.5 27.8 - -
   *Includes only refineries with capacity greater that 10,000 barrels per day.
   aIncludes a joint venture with Exxon Mobil.
   bParent of Compagnie Nationale ŕ Portefeuille / Nationale PortefeuilleMaatschappij (Belgium).
   cSuncor operated one refinery with capacity of 60,000 barrels per day in the United States in 2003 and 2004.
   Notes:  - = No data reported.  - - = Not applicable.  E = Estimated data.  NM = Not meaningful, R = Revised data.  ** = Number less than 0.5 rounded to zero.  Amounts at year end.  Calculations performed with unrounded data.
   Sources:  Energy Information Administration, "Refinery Capacity Report,"  (Washington, DC, June 29, 2007), Table 5, and previous issue.