Marathon Petroleum Aims to Integrate 2 Texas Refineries

Marathon Petroleum Corp is aiming to integrate its Texas refineries as part of a plan to increase diesel fuel output, Chief Executive Gary Heminger told analysts on Tuesday.

 

The company plans to take its 451,000 barrels per day (bpd) Galveston Bay refinery and its adjacent 84,000 bpd Texas City refinery and "merge them from a process standpoint and build one hydrotreater between the two," Heminger said during a webcast presentation at the Credit Suisse Energy Summit.

 

He did not provide specific timing for the hydrotreater project. But Marathon had already disclosed plans to add hydrotreating capacity at Galveston Bay, idle its smallest and oldest gasoline-making fluid catalytic cracking unit, and expand export capabilities.

 

The company plans to push export capacity to 400,000 bpd by the end of 2015, up from 345,000 bpd last year.