REFINERY REBIRTH: TRANSFORMING AN AGING OIL REFINERY INTO A RENEWABLE FUEL PRODUCER

For 125 years, Phillips 66’s San Francisco refinery in Rodeo, California, processed only crude oil.

- STEPHANE LAUZON

But that changed this spring, when the transformed facility reopened as one of the world’s largest renewable transportation fuel production sites, with output expected to ramp up to 50,000 barrels per day of renewable diesel (RD) and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from feedstocks like used cooking oil.

Meanwhile, by the first quarter of 2025, global chemical company LyondellBasell intends to close its Houston, Texas, refinery and begin a similar conversion process as part of a strategy to exit oil refining and build a circular (reuse) and low-carbon solutions business, with the transformed plant envisioned as a regional hub for production and distribution of renewable fuels. The company, which has other conversion projects in development elsewhere, said it is evaluating which feedstocks and fuels to use and produce at the plant, with recycled and renewable-based feedstocks, and green and blue hydrogen, among the options.

Since 2010, the total number of operating refineries in the U.S. has decreased from close to 140 to about 125, according to McKinsey. At least eight of those closures, including Rodeo, have come since 2020, though not all those sites are being reborn as renewable fuel producers. That’s because, as McKinsey notes, “Building the business case to convert a refinery is complex and challenging – and compelling for only a few dozen refineries.”