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US, Delek to expand Texas refinery: Vance

  • Märkte: Oil products
  • 13.10.26

The US administration will use a Korean War-era defense law to help Delek expand its 74,000 b/d Tyler refinery in Texas, US vice president JD Vance said today as the White House tries to rein in soaring fuel prices.

The US wants "millions of gallons" of commercial-grade and military-specification fuel to come out of the refinery "in addition to what it's already producing", Vance said in a campaign event for Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, who is in a tight race for a US Senate seat.

Vance did not give specifics on the size of the refinery expansion or a timeline for the project. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for more information.

The announcement comes as President Donald Trump seeks ways to reduce pump prices, including record-high retail diesel values, that have soared because of global supply shortages caused by the US-Iran war and Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries.

US refiners, who have helped fill the gap in global supply, reported bumper profits in the second quarter with margins doubling from a year earlier. More recently, the US Gulf coast 3-2-1 West Texas Intermediate crude sweet crack spread, a measurement of refining margins, averaged a record high $71.96/bl in the week ended 8 October.

Secretary of energy Chris Wright said last month that the US was talking regularly to refiners and seeking to help them expand throughput and "maybe" use funds available through the 1950 Defense Production Act.

The law gives the president special powers to require domestic industries to prioritize certain activities related to national defense, such as production of military equipment, or as during the Covid-19 pandemic to produce medical equipment.

In March, Trump used the law for the first time to force the restart of a pipeline in California, which allowed US independent Sable Offshore to start sales of crude in that region.

Trump also signed five "presidential determinations" earlier this year that invoked the Defense Production Act to support the development of oil production, pipelines, refineries, LNG export terminals, coal-fired power plants and other energy infrastructure. The determinations allow the administration to tap a $1bn fund that the Republican-led US Congress created through a tax and energy law Trump signed last year.

The Tyler refinery produces gasoline, distillates, petroleum coke and LPG.


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