Greater Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce
2023-2025 Legislative Agenda
This is Southeast Texas …
and our impact on the state’s and national economy:
Southeast Texas, which includes Jefferson and Orange counties, is a major player in the economy of both Texas and the US. The country’s energy independence begins and ends in our backyard.
Southeast has become a major hub for storage and export of crude oil, condensate, and refined transportation fuels, as well as LNG and renewable fuels. Today, the area and Sabine-Neches Waterway can claim the following as a partial list of its growth and importance to the Texas and US economies:
1. Home to four major refineries, including the largest refinery in the US.
2. Home to the largest methanol facility in the US.
3. Total refinery throughput capacity of 1.671 MM barrels per day, 8.8 percent of 2019 US refining capacity, but importantly 13 percent of transportation fuels-gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, per the Energy Information Agency (EIA).
4. Home to over 35 chemical and petrochemical facilities.
5. Home to the largest single owner crude terminal in the US, as well as one of the largest single owner refined products and transportation fuels terminals.
6. Home to the Dept. of Energy Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) intake facility for both the Big Hill and West Hackberry storage facilities, which account for 57% of the nation’s crude oil strategic reserve, approximately 400 MM barrels.
7. Home to the largest concentration of LNG export terminals in the US, with one in operation with continuing expansion underway, a second facility being converted from import to export capability, and a third one waiting for final approval.
8. The Sabine-Neches Waterway is the # 1 liquid bulk cargo waterway in the US.
9. The area is an Origin for 3 major petroleum products pipelines; supplying by pipeline the entire eastern and mid-continent US (except New England) with transportation and home heating fuels.
Jointly, the Sabine-Neches Waterway; comprised of the Ports of Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Sabine Pass in Jefferson County and the Port of Orange in Orange County, operate as the 3rd largest port/waterway complex in the nation in terms of tonnage and is home to two Strategic Military Ports that function as the nation’s #1 commercial military out-load port. Export revenue for the waterway was $30.2 billion in 2018. The projections for 2026 are $73.1 billion, which is in keeping with expected increases in petroleum exports forecast for the entire Gulf Coast area refineries and petrochemical facilities.
Unlike her big sister to the west, the Sabine-Neches Waterway and Golden Triangle cities and counties have ample expansion capabilities along our waterway. The region’s ability to work together across public entities and private organizations to identify growth and expansion opportunities has long been a strong suit of the region. A perfect example is $1.4 billion Sabine Neches Waterway deepening and improvement project that will eliminate most, if not all, constraints on waterway traffic. With those constraints lifted, vessel capacity expansion of up to 25 percent is both feasible and likely, given the history of public and private cooperation since 2003. This increase in waterway vessel capacity will correlate to an even greater increase in waterway tonnage.
ECONOMIC IMPACT DATA FOR PA CHAMBER LEGISLATIVE AGENDA
There is currently approximately $80 billion in announced and proposed industrial projects along the Sabine-Neches Waterway.[1]
GDP and Manufacturing
Texas GDP for all sectors: $2.05 trillion[2]
SETX GDP for all sectors: $24,636,309,000[3]
Texas Manufacturing GDP 2019: $241 billion[4]
SETX Manufacturing GDP 2019: $10.7 billion[5]
Percentage of Texas GDP from manufacturing: 11.7%
Percentage of SETX GDP from manufacturing: 43.4%
Texas civilian labor force-all sectors (Sep. 2020): 14,584,000[6]
SETX civilian labor force-all sectors (Sep. 2020): 174,822[7]
SETX represents:
SETX represents 4.4% of Texas manufacturing GDP
Ports and Waterways
Texas is the number one state in the nation for waterborne commerce.[8]
Texas ports handle 608 million tons of cargo annually, or 27.2% of the U.S. total.[9]
The Sabine-Neches Waterway handles 136 million tons of cargo annually, or 6.1% of the U.S. total.[10] The SNNW handles 22% of Texas waterborne cargoes.[11]
Ports in Texas generate over $5 billion in local and state tax revenue and over $9 billion in federal import tax revenue every year.[12]
Based on tonnage as a percentage of state and national totals, the SNWW generates an estimated $1.1 billion in local and state tax revenue and $423 million in federal import tax revenue every year.
The Port of Beaumont is the number one military outload port in the country.[13]
Refining
U.S. Refining Utilization and Capacity: 17.9 million barrels per day.[14]
Texas refining capacity: 5.9 million barrels per day.[15]
SETX refining capacity: 1.54 million barrels per day.[16]
Texas refineries represent 30% of the nation’s refining capacity
SETX refineries represent 26.5% of Texas’ refining capacity.
State Government Expenditures
Texas State government expenditures 2019[17]
Percentage of Texas state government expenditures in SETX: 0.97%[18]
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The Chambers support:
EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
The Chambers support:
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY & STEWARDSHIP
The Chambers support:
HEALTHCARE
The Chambers support:
INSURANCE & TAXES
The Chambers oppose:
The Chambers support:
TRANSPORTATION, ENERGY, & INFRASTRUCTURE
The Chambers support:
[1] 2019 marked year of oil, gas investments for SETX, Beaumont Enterprise, Dec. 30, 2019.
www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/2019-marked-year-of-oil-gas-investments-for-SETX-14940652.php
[2] Total Gross Domestic Product for Texas, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TXNGSP
[3] Economic Overview, Southeast Texas WDA 2022, JobsEQ, a product of CHMURA Consulting, provided by Workforce Solutions Southeast Texas.
[4] Texas Manufacturing Facts, National Association of Manufacturers
https://www.nam.org/state-manufacturing-data/2021-texas-manufacturing-facts/
[5] Economic Overview, Southeast Texas WDA 2022.
[6] Texas Economy at a Glance, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/regions/southwest/texas.htm#eag
[7] Beaumont-Port Arthur Economy at a Glance, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,
https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.tx_beaumont_msa.htm
[8] Waterborne tonnage for principal U.S. ports and all 50 states and U.S. territories, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Digital Library, usace.contentdm.ocic.org/digital/collection/p16021coll2/id/6753
[9] Waterborne tonnage for principal U.S. ports, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid.
[14] U.S. Refining Capacity, U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information, Administration,
[15] Texas State Energy Profile, U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information, Administration https://www.eia.gov/state/print.php?sid=TX
[16] Refiners’ Total Operable Atmospheric Crude Oil Distillation Capacity as of January 1, 2020, U.S. Energy Information Administration, https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/refinerycapacity/table5.pdf
[18] Texas State Expenditures by County 2019, Texas Open Data Portal https://data.texas.gov/Government-and-Taxes/Texas-State-Expenditures-by-County-2019/2x5x-m677, accessed via Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
https://comptroller.texas.gov/transparency/reports/expenditures-by-county/
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