Leadership & People

Chevron's Richmond refinery likely to close-paper

(Reuters) - Chevron Corp (CVX.N) is likely to close its oldest refinery, in Richmond, California, in a wider restructuring of downstream operations, the local newspaper's business editor wrote in a column on Wednesday.

The major U.S. oil company halted work on a $1 billion upgrade of Richmond last July after a state judge ordered it, agreeing with environmentalists who brought a lawsuit that the refinery's environmental impact report was incomplete. The company later filed an appeal. [ID:nN20122859]

Chevron said on Tuesday it planned to cut refinery jobs and exit some markets, and the Contra Costa Times business editor, Drew Voros, expects details to be unveiled in March to include the closure of the 240,000 barrel-per-day refinery.

"If Chevron had been allowed to complete the retrofit in Richmond, there would be a strong fiscal argument to keep it open. Instead, there is a strong fiscal argument to close it," Voros concluded in his column for the paper, which serves the county that is home to both the 108-year-old refinery and Chevron's San Ramon headquarters.

Voros cited sources at Chevron who said last year that the company had discussions with Chinese buyers who would have dismantled and shipped the refinery to China, while the land would have been kept as an offloading facility for refined products.

A Chevron spokesman was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Braden Reddall, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)