The newest oil refineries in Texas are looking to join two plays in the North American oil industry. Raven Petroleum LLC and MMEX Resources Inc. are building refineries in the Eagle Ford and Permian Basin that will process ample local supplies of light crude into gasoline and diesel. The fuel will be shipped on existing rail lines across the border to Mexico, where the government has opened the market to foreign competition.
The Woodlands, Raven’s proposed 50,000 bopd refinery, located about 70 miles from the border in Duval County, will produce gasoline and low-sulfur diesel starting by early 2019, said the company’s Managing Director. MMEX Resources plans to build a similar-sized refinery in West Texas. The refinery’s location about 50 miles east of Laredo is close to its feedstock supply from the Eagle Ford shale, as well as to the market for its products in Mexico.