World's Top 21 Largest Oil Refineries -- OGJ

by David Rachovich

World's Largest Refineries (minimum capacity of 400,000 b/cd) 

 

Rank	Company	Location	Crude Capacity, barrels per calendar day (b/cd)*
1.	Paraguana Refining Center	Cardon/Judibana, Falcon, Venezuela	940,000
2.	SK Innovation	Ulsan, South Korea	840,000
3.	GS Caltex Corp.	Yeosu, South Korea	775,000
4.	S-Oil Corp.	Onsan, South Korea	669,000
5.	Reliance Petroleum Ltd.	Jamnagar, India	660,000
6.	ExxonMobil Refining & Supply Co.	Jurong/Pulau Ayer Chawan, Singapore	592,500
7.	Reliance Industries Ltd.	Jamnagar, India	580,000
8.	ExxonMobil Refining & Supply Co.	Baytown*, Texas, USA	560,500
9.	Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Saudi Aramco)	Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia	550,000
10.	Formosa Petrochemical Co.	Mailiao, Taiwan	540,000
11.	Marathon Petroleum Co. LLC	Garyville, Louisiana, USA	522,000
12.	ExxonMobil Refining & Supply Co.	Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA	502,500
13.	Hovensa LLC	St. Croix**, Virgin Islands, USA	500,000
14.	Kuwait National Petroleum Co.	Mina Al-Ahmadi, Kuwait	466,000
15.	Shell Eastern Petroleum (Pte) Ltd.	Pulau, Bukom, Singapore	462,000
16.	BP PLC	Texas City, Texas, USA	451,250
17.	Citgo Petroleum Corp.	Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA	440,000
18.	Shell Nederland Raffinaderij B.V.	Pernis, Netherlands	404,000
19.	Sinopec	Zhenhai, China	403,000
20.	Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Saudi Aramco)	Rabigh, Saudi Arabia	400,000
21.	Saudi Aramco-Mobil	Yanbu, Saudi Arabia	400,000

Notes: OGJ data show that S-Oil Corp.'s refinery in Onsan, South Korea, moved to No. 4 from No. 7 in 2011 on the strength of raising its crude capacity to 669,000 b/cd from 564,000 b/cd. And Marathon Petroleum Co. LLC's Garyville, La., plant moved to No. 11 from No. 13 after raising its crude capacity to 522,000 b/cd from 490,000 b/cd – please see my previous post "World's Top 21 Largest Oil Refineries – OGJ," Feb 7, 2012. Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has 1.24 million barrels per day of crude processing capacity [i.e. No. 5 Jamnagar + No. 7 Jamnagar, above], the largest at any single location in the world – please see RIL's website here – D.R. For 2012, OGJ's survey data show total global capacity at slightly less than 89 million b/cd with no net gain in the number of plants. That's a growth of more than 700,000 b/cd from 2011. The data also show Western Europe continuing to lose plants, one more in 2012 after two closed in 2011; total capacity has fallen by more than 400,000 b/cd. North America's held in number, while capacity data even advanced, mostly with completion of a huge expansion at a Southeast Texas refinery [i.e., Motiva's Port Arthur, Texas, refinery--please see below - D.R.]—that almost immediately was forced to close for up to a year to deal with the effects of faulty design. New data for Asian refineries, however, show total regional capacity grew by more than 700,000 b/cd; Middle Eastern refineries, with several new plants and expansions under way, officially remained level with capacities for 2011. – Please read Warren R. True and Leena Koottungal, "Asia, Middle East Lead Modest Recovery in Global Refining," OGJ, Dec 3, 2012. South Korea is home to three of the five largest crude oil refineries in the world – SK Innovation's Ulsan (No. 2), GS Caltex's Yeosu (No. 3) and S-Oil's Onsan (No. 4), according to OGJ data above.

*By far the biggest refining story in North America in 2012 centered on the massive expansion at Motiva Enterprise LLC's Port Arthur, Texas refinery. The 325,000-b/d, $10 billion expansion, largest at a US refinery in nearly 40 years and designed for feedstock flexibility, was dedicated on May 31, raising capacity to 600,000 b/d, making it the largest US refinery and pushing ExxonMobil's Baytown refinery to No. 2 in the USA. On June 9, 2012, however, the new crude distillation unit sprung leaks traced to massive corrosion; a fire ensued and the expansion was shut down. Motiva has since traced the problem to faulty design. The unit will not restart before the end of first-quarter 2013, if then. Motiva Enterprises is a refining and marketing joint venture owned by affiliates of Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Saudi Aramco---please see Warren R. True and Leena Koottungal, "Asia, Middle East lead modest recovery in global refining," OGJ, Dec 3, 2012 - D.R.

**In February 2012, Hovensa LLC shut down its 350,000-b/d St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, refinery. The location is now an oil storage site. Operated by a joint venture of Hess Corp. and PDVSA, the state-owned oil company of Venezuela, the refinery could not stem losses in recent  years---Warren R. True and Leena Koottungal, "Asia, Middle East lead modest recovery in global refining," OGJ, Dec 3, 2012 - D.R..

Source: Oil & Gas Journal, Dec 3, 2012

(Also, please my post "World's Top 25 Largest Refiners, Jan 1, 2013 -- OGJ," -- D.R.)