The first new oil refinery is going to be built in America after 50 years. US President Donald Trump announced this on Thursday. The special thing is that India's Reliance Industries will invest in this refinery to be built at a cost of 300 billion dollars. Trump called it the biggest deal in America's history.
No major petroleum refinery plant has been built in America since 1977, even though fuel demand and oil production in the country have increased significantly in the last several decades. The question arises that why did the world's largest economy not build any refinery for 50 years? After all, what was the reason behind this?
Announcing the deal, Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social - Today I am proud that the first new American oil refinery to be built in the last 50 years is going to start in Brownsville, Texas. He said that this project is a historic deal of 300 billion dollars. He described this deal as the largest investment in the history of America and thanked his partners in India and their largest private energy company Reliance for this big investment.
According to market research company Global Insight, the reason for not opening new refineries in these 50 years was that America's big refinery companies considered it better to upgrade old plants instead of building new plants. America fulfilled its oil needs through this. Apart from this, companies were expecting the demand for fuel to decline in the coming years and new projects had to go through a very long government process. Nearly 50 years ago, in 1977, Marathon Oil started a plant with a capacity of 2 lakh barrels per day in Garyville, Louisiana. Since then, only 14 small refineries have been built, with capacities ranging from 4,100 to 46,250 barrels per day.
It has been told in the report that American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) had earlier expected the demand for petrol to decline in the future. Therefore, many companies thought that it would be better to close these refinery assets or use them for some other purpose. However, some decisions were also taken due to government policies. One reason was that America and other western countries had accelerated plans to move away from fossil fuels and move towards green energy, while oil prices had reached a record level in the year 2022.
Also read- First oil refinery to open in US after 50 years, big deal with India's Reliance
