Oil giant Saudi Aramco announced its commodities trading arm, Aramco Trading Co (ATC), has fully acquired US refiner Motiva Trading and launched Aramco Trading Americas LLC (ATA) as a wholly-owned subsidiary based in Houston, Texas.
“ATA will be ATC’s regional office, expanding its trading business in North and South America to capture new opportunities and increase its existing customer base,” Aramco said in a statement on Wednesday.
Under the purchase agreement, ATA will be the sole supplier and ‘offtaker’ of Motiva Enterprises, which owns North America’s largest refinery with a crude refining capacity of 630,000 barrels a day, producing consumer and commercial grade fuels and base oils.
With the launch of ATA, ATC brings its business closer to customers and provides them significant access to the world’s robust hydrocarbon system, which will significantly strengthen its value chain globally.
The deal is the latest between Aramco and a US firm, with the Saudi company signing an agreement valued at $250 million in September 2022 with Beyond Limits, a California-based artificial intelligence technology company, to build a global AI corridor.