Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Saudi Arabia will spend $7 billion to more than double the size of their Texas oil refinery, the biggest U.S. expansion in fuel production in three decades.

The joint venture, Motiva Enterprises LLC, will boost capacity at the Port Arthur oil refinery by 325,000 barrels a day, making it the largest in the U.S., by 2010.

The facility will process 600,000 barrels a day of crude oil, Motiva said today in a statement. That would be enough fuel to fill about 1.5 million cars in one day.

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U.S. oil companies have been struggling to meet ever-rising gasoline demand because of local and environmental opposition to new refineries, which resulted in record pump prices above $3.20 a gallon this summer. The plant expansion will cost more than twice initial estimates, reflecting rising steel prices and escalating labour costs.

“We have had strong refining margins in recent years,” said Ivor Pether, who helps oversee about $17 billion at Royal London Asset Management, including around 30 million Shell shares. “It’s probably very sensible for Shell to raise its capacity in America.”

Oil prices have surged to a record above $82 a barrel, even after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries pledged last week to pump more crude. Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al- Naimi and other group officials have frequently blamed higher prices on a shortage of refining capacity.

Crude oil for November delivery traded at $81.48 a barrel in New York on Friday.

Both Shell and Saudi Arabia will supply heavy-grade crude oil to the refinery to be processed when the additional capacity is in place, Rob Routs, head of refining at Shell, said Friday on a conference call with reporters.

The city of Fort Worth, Texas goes by many different names, including “Cowtown” and “Where the West Begins”; but it is also one of the most cultural cities in Texas. You might be interested to learn that the city was actually established in 1849 as a military camp and is the fifth-largest city in Texas today. Fort Worth is also the nineteenth largest city in the United States and is home to a large number of attractions that helps to prove that cities in Texas aren’t just about oil!

If you’re planning a trip to Fort Worth, you’ll love the number of art and historical museums and galleries you’ll find at your disposal. Pay a visit the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth which was established in 1892 and is the oldest art museum in Texas. Moreover, its permanent collection houses more than 2600 pieces of post-war art. Alternatively, the Kimbell Art Museum has an eclectic collection of art, with work from the likes of Caravaggio, Picasso, Matisse and Rembrandt. If you’re more interested in browsing the work of American artists in Fort Worth, make a stop at the Amon Carter Museum, which is home to an excellent collection of works by Western artists, including Thomas Cole, Georgia O’Keefe and John Singer Sargent. The museum also houses a vast collection of over 30, 000 photographs.

Visitors interested in taking a walk through Fort Worth’s greener areas should explore the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. The garden is the oldest botanic garden in Texas and is home to over 20 speciality gardens and around 2500 species of plants. The Fort Worth Water Gardens offers an impressive water spectacle in the city. Featuring three unique pools of water in a contemporary park, it offers a haven of relaxation in a bustling urban atmosphere. In fact, the water gardens were immortalised on screen in the finale of the 1970s film “Logan’s Run”.

You should also make sure you pay a visit to the Fort Worth Zoo while in the city. Fort Worth’s zoo is ranked as one of the top 10 zoos in the United States, so you’re sure to have a great time with your family or friends. You can also revel in Fort Worth’s Sundance Square, named after the Sundance Kid; an outlaw in the American Wild West whose story was immortalised in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. This 16-block entertainment centre is where you can find the city’s best restaurants, nightclubs and boutiques – so make sure you don’t pass over the chance to wander around it.

Finally, you might like to visit the National Cowgirl Museum Hall of Fame; the only museum in the world dedicated to honouring the women of the American Wild West. But no matter what or where you visit while in Fort Worth, you’ll be sure to find a large variety of accommodation in convenient locations around the city – from where you’ll be able to enjoy the best that one of Texas’s most cultural cities has to offer.