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Located in Texas near the Gulf of Mexico, Port Arthur is one of the largest refining and petrochemicals platforms of TotalEnergies. To scale up the petrochemical operations in the United States and gain further market share, in 2017 TotalEnergies invested in significantly increasing its ethylene production capacity by leveraging U.S. ethane, which is abundant and inexpensive.

Historical Background

Built in 1936 and acquired by TotalEnergies in 1973, the Port Arthur platform has evolved from a traditional refinery into a sophisticated integrated energy complex. Over nearly 90 years of operation, the facility has undergone extensive modernization to adapt to changing market demands and environmental standards.

Feedstock

The refinery is designed to process a wide range of crude oil feedstocks, including heavy crude oil from various international sources, lighter domestic crudes from U.S. shale plays, sour and acid crudes with high sulfur content. Its crude processing capacity is 238,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Note on discrepency between refinery capacity reported by TotalEnergies (238,000 bpd) and the cumulative crude oil processing capacity of both ADUs (totaling 190,000 bpd) may be related to the May 2020 announcement of a refinery production cut "to 70% of its 225,500 bpd capacity with a reduction in the operating level of the large crude distillation unit"

Processing Units

• ACU-1 (Atmospheric Crude Unit 1): 150,000 bpd capacity
• ACU-2 (Atmospheric Crude Unit 2): 40,000 bpd capacity
• VDU-1: 51,000 bpd capacity
• VDU-2: 60,000 bpd capacity
• Fluidized Catalytic Cracking (FCC):
  • FCC-2: 76,000 bpd gasoline-producing unit with advanced reactor technology
  • Features TotalEnergies' largest FCC unit globally, constructed in the 1990s
• Delayed Coker Unit: 60,000 bpd capacity for heavy oil conversion
  • Commissioned in 2011 as part of the $2.2 billion Deep Conversion Project
• Diesel Hydrotreaters: Three units with combined 84,000 bpd capacity
• Naphtha Hydrotreater: 42,000 bpd capacity
• High-Pressure Distillate Hydrodesulfurization Unit: Produces ultra-low sulfur diesel meeting American market specifications
• Catalytic Gasoline Hydrotreater: Started in 2020, reduces gasoline sulfur content below 10 ppm
• Continuous Catalytic Reformer (CCR): 35,000 bpd capacity for octane enhancement
• Alkylation Unit: 5,000 bpd capacity for premium gasoline components