Chevron may expand strategic assets

U.S.-based Chevron Corp. may expand six refineries, including its U.S. Gulf Coast refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi, that it has identified as strategic assets, the head of the energy major’s refining and marketing division said. The proposed expansions are clustered around refineries serving the U.S. Gulf Coast and those serving the West Coast and Asian markets. Two-thirds of fuel demand growth is expected to be in the U.S. and Asia, and 75% of Chevron’s refineries are in those regions, said Chevron Executive Vice President Mike Wirth. A decision on whether to expand the Pascagoula refinery will be made in 2008. Chevron’s plans for larger-scale flexible refining include a move to upgrade its Pembroke oil refinery to process crude oil from the Caspian Sea basin. Expansions of the company’s two California refineries and a South Korean plant, as well as the construction of a new Indian refinery, will focus on serving the Asian and West Coast markets, Wirth said. (March 14, 2007)