Click to watch video

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Monday at the Motiva Port Arthur Refinery.

Officials say the refinery’s recent expansion will make it the largest in the nation.

KHOU - TV

“We’re going to put $7 billion on the line to increase the capacity in the country and we think it’s dutifully needed,” said Todd Monette who is the general manager at Motiva Refinery.

So when the Motiva plant in Port Arthur ceremonially broke ground Monday on an expansion project that would make it America’s largest refinery, even the U.S secretary of energy was there.

“It’s an investment as I stated in my remarks in the future prosperity of the united states,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman.

U.S. Congressman Ted Poe says the new refinery will double the company’s capacity. “Which translates to 12 million gallons of gas or 700,000 cars filled up each day with gasoline.”

The expansion of the Port Arthur refinery will add 4,500 construction jobs and 300 full time jobs to the area. It’s a boon for Port Arthur especially after Hurricane Rita.

“People lost jobs they lost homes they lost businesses this is like a recovery process for us,” said Port Arthur Mayor Deloris Prince.

Monette says this won’t guaranteed costs will be cut at the pump. “It’s clearly adding more capacity in the market. Whether it will lower gas prices, who knows.”

And officials like Bodman say it won’t cost the environment  “They certainly have more than met the Texas standards for emission for both water and air.”

Motiva is a joint venture between Shell and Saudi Aramco.

The expansion will also make the refinery one of the biggest in the world.

“The decisions we made here will be consistent with what we believe is good for industry here, good for us and good for the consumers,” said Saudi Aramco Sr. Vice President Abdulaziz Al-Khayyal.

And it will be even better for production when the plant opens in 2010.