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Motiva Texas refinery becomes nation's largest

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Marathon remains top refiner by capacity

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National capacity could fall by 400,000 bpd in 2026 report

(Adds details, bullets)

By Erwin Seba

HOUSTON, June 20 (Reuters) - U.S. refinery crude oil

processing capacity grew by nearly 40,000 barrels per day in

2024 to 18.4 million bpd, the U.S. Energy Information

Administration said on Friday.

Motiva Enterprises' Port Arthur, Texas, plant

became the largest single refinery by capacity at 640,500 bpd,

passing Marathon Petroleum's ( MPC ) Galveston Bay Refinery in

Texas City, Texas, according to the report. Motiva's increase of

14,500 bpd from a year ago was due to improving operating

efficiency.

National capacity may possibly fall by as much as 402,476

bpd by next year's report because of refinery closures: Lyondell

Basell Industries permanently shuttered its 263,776 bpd

Houston refinery in February, while Phillips 66 plans to

close its 138,700-bpd Los Angeles refinery by the end of this

year.

In 2026, assuming no growth at refineries through efficiency

improvements, referred to as de-bottlenecking, U.S. capacity

would fall below the 2023 level of 18.06 million bpd reported by

the EIA.

Marathon, based in Findlay, Ohio, continues to be the

largest single refiner in the United States with 13 refineries

operating a combined production capacity of 2.96 million bpd

equal to 16% of the national total, according to the EIA report,

which is issued annually.

Valero Energy Corp ( VLO ), based in San Antonio, is the

second largest, with 13 refineries operating 2.2 million bpd,

equal to 12% of U.S. capacity, according to the EIA.

Exxon Mobil Corp ( XOM ) is the third-largest, with four

refineries with 1.96 million bpd in crude oil throughput, equal

to 10.6% of national capacity, the EIA report said.

The EIA report reflects refinery capacity as of January

1, 2025 and is based on reports filed by refiners on individual

capacities for each refinery by January 1. As such, it provides

a portrait of growth in the previous year.

The long-term trend in U.S. refining has been for

shrinking numbers of refineries to overcome increasing capacity

at remaining ones.

The total number of refineries in the United States

remained unchanged at 132 from 2024, but the EIA report lists

the 32,000-bpd CPI Operations refinery in Paulsboro, New Jersey

as idle.