Port of Brownsville ship channel | Source: AFR website

The America First Refining (AFR) Brownsville Facility is the first greenfield oil refinery to be built in the United States in nearly 50 years, representing a landmark re-investment in domestic downstream infrastructure. Located on more than 240 acres within the Port of Brownsville in South Texas, the facility is purpose-built to process exclusively high-gravity domestic light shale crude from the Permian Basin — a feedstock for which the existing US refining fleet is largely unoptimised. Uniquely among US refineries, the facility integrates a hydrogen-powered energy system and a combined-cycle power plant, targeting ultra-low carbon intensity fuels and positioning itself as the cleanest refinery of its scale in the United States. Developed under the name Element Fuels Holdings from 2014, and rebranded as America First Refining in 2025 following presidential endorsement, the project is backed by a 20-year binding offtake agreement with a global supermajor widely identified as India's Reliance Industries Ltd., underpinning project financing at a self-reported 10-figure valuation. Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) is currently underway with Fluor Corporation, with groundbreaking scheduled for Q2 2026 and Phase 1 production targeted for 2027.

Read the detailed refinery profile here.

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