Optimization Analyst - Economics

At Motiva, our employees' energy, passion, and dedication to excellence are what make us who we are and what allows us to generate energy that makes a house a home, gets us from point A to point B, and enables our health and wellbeing. We invest in every aspect of our employees' lives because, at Motiva, our people matter.

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Motiva refines, distributes and markets petroleum products throughout the Americas. The company's Port Arthur Manufacturing Complex in Port Arthur, TX, is comprised of North America's largest refinery with a total throughput of 720,000 barrels per day, the largest base oil plant in the western hemisphere, and an integrated chemical plant.

Under exclusive long-term brand licenses with Shell and Phillips 66 (for the 76® brand), Motiva's commercial operations supply more than 12 billion gallons of fuel to customers annually.

Motiva is wholly owned by Aramco, one of the world's largest integrated energy and chemicals companies.

The Optimization Analyst – Economics is responsible for supporting refinery profitability through economic analysis, optimization activities, refinery planning, and maintenance of the refinery Linear Programming (LP) model. This role provides critical economic insights that support operational decision‑making, strategic planning, and business performance improvement across the Port Arthur Manufacturing Complex (PAMC).

Working closely with Operations, Manufacturing Optimization, Planning, Economics & Scheduling, Commercial, and Finance teams, this position evaluates refinery performance, identifies value‑enhancement opportunities, and develops economic recommendations that maximize refinery margin while balancing operational constraints. The successful candidate will leverage strong analytical, technical, and business acumen to support both tactical and long‑term optimization efforts.

The role requires a proactive professional with the ability to work independently, influence cross‑functional stakeholders, and translate complex refinery economics into actionable business recommendations.

This is an in‑office position located at Motiva's Port Arthur Manufacturing Complex (PAMC) in Port Arthur, Texas.

• Perform weekly economic evaluations using refinery LP models and support development of the refinery operating plan refresh.
• Analyze refinery economics, market conditions, and operational performance to identify opportunities to maximize margin and profitability.
• Develop and maintain unit stream values and economic assumptions used to evaluate refinery performance and operational decisions.
• Prepare weekly margin driver pricing updates and communicate economic impacts to stakeholders.
• Conduct monthly lost opportunity analysis against the Monthly Operating Plan (MOP) and provide recommendations to improve performance.
• Partner with the Economic Model Coordinator (EMC) to support LP model maintenance, back‑casting activities, yield tracking, and model accuracy improvements.
• Perform economic evaluations, look‑backs, and post‑audits for capital projects and strategic initiatives.
• Develop economic steering values associated with operational constraints, unit slowdowns, and refinery outages.
• Support development of the annual business plan, economic forecasts, and long‑range planning activities.
• Collaborate with Operations, Manufacturing Optimization, Commercial, and Planning teams to evaluate operational strategies and investment opportunities.
• Identify and implement improvements to refinery planning tools, economic models, and optimization processes.
• Provide analytical support for special projects, business initiatives, and management decision‑making.
• Serve as vacation relief and provide support for other roles within the Strategic Planning and Economics organization.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in refining, petrochemicals, manufacturing optimization, economics, planning, or related downstream operations.
• Experience working with refinery LP models, planning tools, or economic…