News Post
Total seeks buyer for half of refinery in Port Arthur
Total S.A. is selling half of its stake in its Port Arthur refinery -- the only refinery the French oil giant has in the U.S.
Lazard, an investment bank, has been advised on the deal. Total has owned the facility for more than 40 years and intended to remain as the plant's operator, Reuters reported.
A Total spokesman told Reuters the group was studying the possibility of a "tie-up with a long-term strategic partner to develop Port Arthur, like it has with its other non-European platforms in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and South Korea."
The spokesman told Reuters, "(Port Arthur facility) is a high-quality asset which meets the market's needs particularly well thanks to the large investments that were made recently."
Reuters analyzed the news, saying the sale would be viewed as a shift away from the downstream sector -- often viewed as a low-margin for earnings.
Reuters said potential bidders could include companies from Canada's oil sands patch. Total owns 100 percent of the Port Arthur facility.
It's not incredibly clear how much the deal could be worth, but a Reuters comparison with a sale of a Louisiana facility placed 50-percent of Total's share as being worth $188 million, excluding other factors.
Government data analyzed by Reuters said the Port Arthur plant's use of imported crudes has fallen by a third in five years to around 70,000 barrels per day last year.
12News announced earlier this year that Total had plans to build a $1.6 billion ethane cracker at the site. It is not immediately clear how the efforts to sell the stake would relate to last month's announcement.
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