Everything about The Pine Bend Refinery totally explained
The
Pine Bend Refinery is the largest
oil refinery in
Minnesota, located in the
Twin Cities suburbs of
Rosemount and
Inver Grove Heights next to southern split of
U.S. Highway 52 and
Minnesota State Highway 55. The refinery is notable for being the largest in the
United States to be located in a state without any oil wells. Overall, it ranks 14th in the country as of
January 1,
2005, with an input capacity of 265,000
barrels (42,131
m³, 11,130,000
gallons, or 42,131,633
liters) per day
(External Link
). The facility is owned by
Flint Hills Resources, a
subsidiary of
Koch Industries (pronounced the same as "Coke"). It is colloquially referred to as the "Koch Refinery."
The plant was first constructed in
1955 by the Great Northern Oil Company. Koch purchased a controlling interest in the plant in
1969. Since then, capacity has been tripled.
Most
petroleum enters and exits the plant through
pipelines. Most of the incoming
crude oil comes from
oil fields in
Canada and is brought from the northwest to the facility through the
Lakehead and
Minnesota pipelines. Additional crude comes from the south via the
Wood River Pipeline, though plans are in place to reverse the flow of that line.
The plant has a dedicated pipeline to the
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport that provides much of the
jet fuel for aircraft. Another major exit route for distilled products is the
Wisconsin Pipeline, which brings fuel eastward into the neighboring state. Fuel is also distributed by
semi-trailer trucks,
railroad cars, and, occasionally, river
barges.
In the
1990s and the year
2000, Koch was forced to pay
US$19 million in environmental fines because of improper management of emissions. In
1999, the company accepted a challenge from the
Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) to set up an independent monitoring group to keep track of emissions at the plant. Emissions were reduced to below 50% of
1997 levels, the last year for which data was available at the time. In nearby
Rosemount and
Apple Valley, incidence of
asthma and other respiratory illnesses, especially among children and the elderly, were almost double national average levels for much of that time.
As of
2001, Minnesotans were using a total of 7.2 million gallons of
gasoline per day, and fuel use continues to climb in the region by about 2% annually. About 70% of the gasoline fuel used in the state comes from Pine Bend and the nearby
St. Paul Park Refinery, while most of the rest comes from a combination of the
Mandan Refinery in
North Dakota, and the
Superior Refinery in
Superior, Wisconsin. 40 to 50% of Pine Bend's output is used within the state. Flint Hills is currently planning a $100 million expansion to increase capacity at the plant to about 330,000 barrels per day.
Further Information
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