In a move to ramp up production, President Trump last week urged a gathering of oil executives to build more refineries, and quickly.
In a White House conference attended by the leaders of Chevron, Marathon Petroleum, PBF Energy, and Valero Energy, the President stressed the importance of soon expanding the refining capacity of the country.
Trump also said he wanted to speed up the approval and permitting process for such projects.
Even though many companies are currently emphasizing the need to modernize and expand their existing facilities, new construction, according to various reports, does not appear to be currently on the horizon.
Building such facilities, notes the Wall Street Journal, “would require an investment of several billion dollars and three to five years of construction.”
According to some sources, the oil companies are also particularly wary of taking on any substantial building projects given the prospect that revenue, although currently at a historic high, may decrease in 2027.
Preceding the White House meeting, Trump spokesman Taylor Rogers said the President was “laser-focused on ensuring his successful energy dominance agenda translates into the most cost savings at the pump for the consumer.”
While no new oil refinery has been built in the U.S. since the early 1970s, an outlier is being seen at the Port of Brownsville in Texas where a new refinery is in the process of being developed on some 240 acres.
Earlier this year, Esteban Guerra, Brownsville Navigation District Chairman, characterized the project as a “defining moment for our region.”
What is belling called the America First Refining project, which is backed by the Mumbai, India-based Reliance Industries, will process 100% domestic shale oil using hydrogen-powered systems designed to produce what have been described as “ultra-low carbon fuels.”
Upon the announcement of the $3.4 billion project, Trump declared: “This is what American energy dominance looks like.”
September 10, 2026
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
