Marathon Petroleum, the largest US independent refiner, will reduce its 166,000 bpd Martinez refinery in California to terminal operations and consider reconfiguring it to produce renewable diesel. It also has no plans to restart its 27,000 bpd Gallup refinery in New Mexico. Marathon idled both refineries in April amid a 50% tumble in US gasoline consumption and almost total collapse in jet fuel demand.
Marathon’s Martinez refinery has about 14,000 bpd of coking capacity and 16,000 bpd of alkylation capacity. The facility processed crude imported regularly from Ecuador, Colombia, and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the smaller Gallup refinery processed domestic crude produced in the Four Corners area. The company failed to find a buyer for the Gallup refinery and planned to use logistics assets at the site.
The closure of Marathon’s refineries is the latest refining capacity shutdowns hastened by the COVID-19 pandemic which ravaged demand for transportation fuels. Previously, Philadelphia Energy Solutions filed for bankruptcy and permanently shut down its 330,000 bpd refinery in Philadelphia. HollyFrontier in June said it would shut a 52,000 bpd refinery in Cheyenne and convert some hydrotreating capacity for renewable diesel production.
Calcasieu Refining last week confirmed it would idle its 136,000 bpd Calcasieu refinery in Louisiana by August. Meanwhile, North Atlantic Refining idled its 115,000 bpd Come-By-Chance refinery in Newfoundland. North Atlantic Refining also idled its Labrador refinery, but Irving Oil later purchased it.
