SPECIAL REPORT
SAUDI ARAMCO ’ S MULTIBILLION dollar divorce contract from Royal Dutch Shell ( RDSA ), which previously owned 50 % of the Port Arthur refinery , will also ensure Saudis ’ the right to use the Shell flag in a number of southeastern states and east Texas .
As a result , Motiva will have the exclusive rights to sell Shell gasoline and diesel in Georgia , North and South Carolina , Virginia , Maryland , East Texas and most of Florida , while Shell retains rights to Shell brand in the rest of Florida .
Forward thinking approach For Phillip Cornell , a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council ’ s Global Energy Centre , Aramco ’ s strategy to move both into downstream and to expand foreign joint ventures has been a long-standing one , and it sounds like forward thinking approach . Both strategies are integral to the Advanced Transformation Program ( ATP ) initiated under the leadership of Khaled al Faleh . “ While downstream is certainly not a major profit centre inside the company , as a strategic investment it has successfully moved the company not only up the value chain , but also into areas like product trading ,” he told Energy Digital .
Furthermore , it is believed that the Port Arthur case signals Aramco ’ s new strategy , namely expanding its petrochemical operations and turning itself into a modern integrated energy company , following the example of Exxon Mobil , for instance . But this is just a piece of a larger picture , as the long term vision is
10 August 2017