Pembroke oil refinery sold to Valero Energy Corporation

An independent Texas-based company has bought the oil refinery at Pembroke in a £447m deal.

It is hoped the deal with a subsidiary of Valero Energy Corporation will secure the refinery's future.

The refinery employs 1,400 people and is said to be worth about £1.5m a week to Pembrokeshire's local economy.

"Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in Valero's history," said chairman, CEO and president Bill Klesse.

"We welcome everyone at Pembroke to the Valero family."

Valero has acquired the refinery from Chevron, as well as the marketing and logistics assets and was "funded from available cash".

The Pembroke plant is said to be one of Europe's largest and most complex refineries, with a total capacity of 270,000 barrels per day.

Valero now has 15 refineries, managing 2.9 million barrels of throughput capacity overall.

Valero also purchased ownership interests in four major pipelines and 11 fuel terminals, acquired a 14,000 barrel per day aviation fuels business, and a network of more than 1,000 Texaco-branded service stations in the UK and Ireland.

The Chevron plant had been on the market for a year, and Valero said in March it agreed to pay $730m (£456m) for the refinery and $1b (£625m) for the assets.