(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump announced the first refinery to be built in the U.S. in 50 years is being built in Brownsville, Texas.
The last refinery was built in 1976 in Louisiana when Gerald Ford was president and gas cost 59 cents a gallon.
Plans had been in the works for years and permits were approved in 2024.
“America First Refining is opening the FIRST new U.S. Oil Refinery in 50 YEARS in Brownsville, Texas,” Trump said on Truth Social. “THIS IS A HISTORIC $300 BILLION DOLLAR DEAL — THE BIGGEST IN U.S. HISTORY, A MASSIVE WIN for American Workers, Energy, and the GREAT People of South Texas!”
Rather than tout an American company and American investors who launched the project, Trump announced a partnership with the largest privately held energy company in India, Reliance Industries Ltd., which he says is investing in the new refinery. He said the Indian company was making the investment because of his “America First Agenda.”
“A new Refinery at the Port of Brownsville, will fuel U.S. Markets, strengthen our National Security, boost American Energy production, deliver Billions of Dollars in Economic impact, and will be THE CLEANEST REFINERY IN THE WORLD,” he said. “It will power Global Exports, and bring THOUSANDS of long overdue Jobs and Growth to a Region that deserves it. This is what AMERICAN ENERGY DOMINANCE looks like. AMERICA FIRST, ALWAYS!”
In June 2024, Element Fuels announced it had completed its site preparation and pre-construction for a new hydrogen-powered clean fuels refinery and combined-cycle power plant in Brownsville. It will exclusively process domestic high gravity shale oil into high-octane, low-carbon fuels and low-carbon hydrogen, it said.
“Element Fuels has received the necessary permitting to construct and operate a refinery capable of producing in excess of 160,000 barrels, or approximately 6.7 million gallons, per day of finished gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel,” its founder and Co-CEO John Calce said in 2024. “A permit for a greenfield refinery of this size, scope, and functionality has not been granted in the United States since the 1970’s. This speaks to the innovative approaches we are taking to address climate and sustainability concerns in cleaner, greener ways that are new to the refinery space.”
Generational construction is expected to begin in the second quarter of this year. It’s expected to “produce enough low-carbon hydrogen to supply approximately 100% of the refinery’s fuel requirements, essentially eliminating CO2 emissions,” he explained. “Hydrogen produced in excess of the refinery’s needs will be used to generate low carbon, utility-scale electricity from Element’s hydrogen-capable combined-cycle gas turbine power plant.” Anything over 100 MW of excess electricity generated will be made available to the Texas grid managed by the Energy Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) “to reliably support the surrounding community’s needs,” the company said.
“Element Fuels is not only ushering in the next generation of clean fuels, we’re also proving that, without a doubt, there is a way to produce higher quality, cleaner, higher-octane fuels that significantly advance the energy transition. This changes everything – for the industry, for consumers, and for the well-being of the planet,” Calce said. The company contracted with McDermott, which provides engineering and construction solutions to the energy industry.
Element Fuels and investors spent between $3 billion and $4 billion to develop the facility, the Houston Business Journal reported in 2024. It’s being constructed on more than 240 acres within the Port of Brownsville, a federally designated deep-water foreign trade zone with direct rail and sea access and multiple liquid and general cargo docks.
“Unlike older refineries designed for heavy foreign oil, this facility is specifically engineered to process 60 million barrels of American light shale crude annually, reducing domestic reliance on energy imports,” Business and Industry Connection Magazine reported.
Now rebranded as America First Refining, it’s expected to purchase and process 1.2 billion barrels of U.S. shale oil, valued at $125 billion, and produce 50 billion gallons of refined products, valued at $175 billion, over a 20-year-period. “Combined, the deal is projected to improve the U.S. trade imbalance by $300 billion,” the magazine states.
“For the first time in half a century, the United States will build a refinery designed specifically for American shale oil,” Calce said. “That is not a policy talking point. It is an engineering and economic reality that the industry has needed to address for a long time,” BIC Magazine reported.
