Richmond refinery | Credit: Matthew (Dec 2025)
The Chevron Richmond Refinery is one of the largest and oldest petroleum refineries on the US West Coast, located on San Francisco Bay in Richmond, California, approximately 25 miles from San Francisco.
History & Ownership
Construction began in 1901 in the Point Richmond district, and operations started on July 7, 1902 under Pacific Coast Oil. Standard Oil acquired the facility and drove its rapid expansion; by 1915 it already covered 435 acres with a capacity of 60,000 bbl/day and employed 1,700 workers. Ownership transitioned through Standard Oil of California (Socal) until the company rebranded as Chevron in 1984 following its acquisition of Gulf Oil — at the time the largest corporate merger in US history. By its 100th anniversary in 2002, the refinery operated 30 plants and had the ability to move 340,000 bbl/day of raw materials and finished products across its long wharf.
Process Units & Technical Capabilities
The refinery uses fractional distillation as the primary separation step, followed by cracking and blending. Key processing units include:
- Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit — converts heavy gas oil feeds to high-octane gasoline components
- Hydrocracking (Isomax) unit — originally opened in 1965 as the world's largest hydrocracking complex at 62,000 bbl/day; converts heavy oils to gasoline and lighter products
- Continuous Catalyst Reformer — produces high-octane reformate for California-spec gasoline
- Hydrogen plant — supplies hydrogen for hydrotreating and hydrocracking; a new unit was part of the ~$1 billion Energy & Hydrogen Renewal Project
- Solvent De-Asphalting (SDA) plant — recovers heavier oils for catalytic cracking feeds, functioning as an alternative to a coker
- Lube oil manufacturing plant — expanded in 1984 to produce 8,500 bbl/day of lube base stocks using Chevron's proprietary hydrocracking and Isodewaxing technology
The refinery requires 130 megawatts of power and up to 50 million gallons of cooling water daily. Storage infrastructure includes hundreds of tanks capable of holding up to 15 million barrels of crude, gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, lube oil, and wax, connected by 5,000 miles of internal pipelines.
Crude Slate & Feedstock
The refinery historically processed Alaska North Slope (ANS) crude as its dominant feedstock, but has switched crude slates repeatedly in response to market conditions. The facility's design supports a crude sulfur content up to ~3% sulfur, giving it flexibility to process a range of medium-to-heavy sour crudes including Arabian Light, Arabian Medium, and Iraqi Basra grades. Crude is received via a marine wharf on San Francisco Bay, capable of handling large tanker cargoes.
Products
Primary products are motor gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel, and lubricants, serving mainly the San Francisco Bay Area and the broader Northwest US market. Lubricating oil base stocks produced at Richmond are distributed throughout the western US.
Modernization Project
A ~$1 billion Energy & Hydrogen Renewal Project was launched in 2008 to improve reliability and energy efficiency. Key components included:
- Replacement of the hydrogen plant with a new unit connected by 50,000 ft of new pipe
- Installation of a new co-generation gas turbine (Cogen 3000) to replace the old boiler power plant
- A new Continuous Catalyst Reformer to maintain California Air Resources Board (CARB) compliant fuel product
References
- Oil&Gas Advancement (Nov 16, 2015). Chevron Richmond Refinery, United States of America
- Wikipedia. Chevron Richmond Refinery (page version: Jan 6, 2026)
- The Center for Land Use Interpretation (n.d.). Chevron's Richmond Refinery, California
- California Energy Commission (n.d.) California Oil Refinery History
- eia. Refinery Capacity Report (June 2025 With data as of January 1, 2025)
