The Motiva Enterprises crude expansion project site also is helping local business.

Small companies like Spidle Oil Co. get a boost from all of the activity.

In a variation on the "coals-to-Newcastle" proverb, Spidle Oil provides fuel and lubricants to contractors working on-site and to the Motiva refinery to help it operate its own machinery.

Though Motiva refines crude oil, it isn't in the kind of ready-to-use condition needed to operate a lot of equipment.

Compressors need synthetic oils to operate, and Spidle provides that. Spidle also provides diesel fuel to the project.

The company began in 1925 by DeWitt Spidle, who sold fuel and oil from a pickup truck.

The company is now run by his grandson, Bill, 50, who has added a couple of employees and a couple of new trucks to keep up with the demands of the Motiva project.

Last week, Spidle attended a meet-and-greet between Motiva's prospective major contractors and local businesses that will compete for the jobs that are created.

"They're saying they need to hire local folks," Spidle said. "It gives us first shot to meet the contractors who are bidding."

Getting a job:

Go to http://www.motivaexpansionproject.com/pages/employment.aspx

Click on employment on the left side of the menu page.

Call Becon employment center: (409) 989-4295 or visit the employment office at the Itex gate on Texas 82 and apply in person from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Thursday.

Call the Workforce Solutions Port Arthur office, (409) 962-1236

Copyright (c) 2009, The Beaumont Enterprise, Texas. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.