Chevron To Add Gas Facility at Pascagoula Refinery

SAN RAMON, Calif. -- Major oil company Chevron Corp. revealed plans earlier this week to build a gasoline production unit at its Pascagoula, Miss., refinery, Forbes reported.

The refinery -- Chevron's largest wholly owned petroleum refinery, processing 330,000 barrels of crude oil daily -- recently suffered damages from a fire in mid-August, and the company expects repairs to be completed during the first quarter of 2008, the report stated.

The company plans to break ground for the $500 million project in early 2008, and complete it by mid 2010, according to the report. The construction of the facility will create 700 jobs, Forbes reported.

Despite the nation's increasing thirst for gasoline, a new refinery has not been built in three decades -- plant expansion was the only way to create new capacity, the report stated.

When the production unit reaches full capacity, Chevron expects output to increase by 10 percent, totaling 600,000 gallons per day, the report stated. In addition, the unit will improve equipment reliability and utilization, while allowing optimization of the refinery's product yields, the report stated.

"This project further demonstrates our commitment to investing in the flexibility and reliability of our global refining network and expanding production of clean-burning transportation fuels increasingly in demand by our customers," Jeet Bindra, Chevron Global Refining president, told Forbes.
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