Texas Gets A Refinery – Energy Security Starts at Home – Energy Dominance is displayed through your exports

This is a fun discussion with John Calce, Founder and Chairman of Element Fuels and America First Refining. This podcast is hosted by Stu Turley, Energy News Beat Host, and David Blackmon is the host of the Energy Impacts Podcast.

Don’t kid yourself, with the geopolitical issues around the world right now, this story is HUGE. A new refinery in the United States was built to refine the light, sweet crude oil from the Permian Basin. This is a gigantic win for Energy Security.

As the title says, “Texas Gets A Refinery – Energy Security Starts at Home – Energy Dominance is displayed through your exports.” John hit it out of the park while talking about how much planning and export capacity are being planned.

Thank you, John, for your efforts, hard work, and getting this across the finish line. We will be reporting on this throughout to help keep the excitement up.

1. America First Refining’s Brownsville Refinery Project

The central focus is John Kelsey’s development of a major new oil refinery in Brownsville, Texas. Key aspects include:

• Background: Kelsey’s extensive experience in upstream oil and gas, particularly during the shale oil boom
• The Problem: A critical mismatch between the light shale oil produced in the Permian Basin and existing U.S. refining infrastructure
• The Solution: Building a new refinery specifically designed to process light shale oil
• Timeline: A challenging 7-year permitting and approval process
• Partnership: Collaboration with Indian conglomerate Reliance for financing and operations
• Future Plans: Potential expansions into ammonia and fertilizer production

2. U.S. Energy Infrastructure & Market Dynamics

The discussion places the refinery project within the broader energy landscape:

• Declining refining capacity in the U.S., particularly on the West Coast
• The paradox of exporting light shale oil from Texas while importing refined products back into California
• The role of policy and government support in energy infrastructure development

3. Economic & Regional Development Impact

The project’s implications for the Brownsville/Rio Grande Valley region:

• Job creation and economic growth opportunities
• Workforce development through partnerships with local universities and technical colleges
• Infrastructure and logistics challenges related to port expansion and regional growth

Thank you, John, for your leadership! Well done and great job, David Blackmon. – Stu

Some huge points:

“ We followed every rule. We did everything the right way. From the start. From start to where we here are now and so it’s you know what made this project financially possible was candidly president trump’s focus on investment in america yeah that really changed the tone and tenor of how people overseas looked at the opportunity to invest in the u.s we got a great partner um and the folks that reliance they they run the largest refinery on the planet in Jamnagar, 1.6 million barrels a day. “

John Calce, Founder and Chairman of Element Fuels and America First Refining

“ This is all private money. It’s been me and some private partners that got the thing from conception to here. “

John Calce, Founder and Chairman of Element Fuels and America First Refining

As I said above, this is a huge accomplishment, and is needed for US consumers and US energy security.

“ And David, I was sitting there going, we import 70% of the oil into California. We just had our greatest Secretary of Energy help out with President Trump, and a wonderful way to sit there and get the Sable offshore pumping again. And then it is not going to make any difference because they import so much diesel and gasoline, it’s bad. “

Stu Turley, Energy News Beat Podcast Host

Here is the article I wrote about it last week.

First New Refinery in 50 Years in the US Goes to Texas

Check out the American First Refining Company site:

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