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Shell Bakersfield Refinery
T meet future energy demands, the
Shell Bakersfield Refinery is matching the
knowledge and skills of professionals with
the 21 st Century technology of today's
refining.
Since 1932, the plant has been in integral
part of the oil industry in Kern County,
California. Throughout its 70-year history,
the facility has symbolized a tradition of
technical innovation, environmental
progress, and production advances.
Located in Bakersfield, California on
approximately 250 acres of land, the
refinery uses state of the art equipment to
process 70,000 barrels of crude oil per day
into products such as automotive gasoline,
diesel, coke, fuel oils, liquefied petroleum
gas, asphalt, sulfur, and other products.
The refinery uses advanced equipment, a
space-age control room, environmental
protection facilities, terminal operations,
maintenance shops, office buildings, storage
tanks, and warehouses. It is a city within the
greater Bakersfield area with its own
medical facilities, fire department, security,
and other services.
Effective operation of technologically
advanced equipment is highly dependent on
the knowledge and expertise of more than
200 men and women. They are highly
skilled professionals who ensure the
refinery operates efficiently and safely 24
hours a day.
The technical staff plans and implements
equipment maintenance and facility
improvements with guidelines for both
efficiency and safety. Engineers and
inspectors monitor equipment for
operational performance. Laboratory
technicians work with the refinery to both
maintain and improve product quality.
Highly qualified personnel provide
purchasing, finance, environmental affairs,
health and safety, communications, human
resources, public affairs, and training
activities.
These professionals and the many who
came before represent an historical energy
cavalcade as the Shell Bakersfield Refinery
has become part of the San Joaquin Valley
community. We are proud of the long-
standing relationship and of our
determination to conduct business safely,
efficiently, and with a continuing awareness
of the energy needs of the community.
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California/Central Valley Leader
California and Kern County are rich in
petroleum history. Through much of that saga,
the Shell Bakersfield Refinery has played a
major role. The plant's history dates back to
1932 when it opened as the Mohawk Refinery,
processing approximatelyl,500 barrels of crude
oil per day.
In 1935, the plant added a cracking unit that
increased capacity to over 9,000 barrels of crude
per day. Processing continued at levels between
10,000 and 20,000 barrels per day until World
War II. Between 1942 and 1945, the plant
operated jointly with an adjacent refinery to
produce military fuel from local heavy valley
crude.
After the war, the Mohawk Refinery
expanded operations, increasing its daily
capacity to about 40,000 barrels per day.
In1970, Reserve Oil and Gas Company
acquired the plant.
In 1980, Getty Oil Company bought Reserve
Oil and Gas and increased daily production to
about 45,000 barrels per day. The company also
added a high-tech loading facility.
Following its merger with Getty Oil
Company in 1984, Texaco took over the
Bakersfield facility which then became the
Texaco Bakersfield Plant. As a part of its long-
range planning, Texaco initiated a number of
refinery expansion projects.
By 1987, Texaco had purchased the nearby
Tosco Refinery, integrated its facilities, and
doubled the output of gasoline production.
Within a year of the Tosco purchase, Texaco
acquired the Independent Valley Energy
Company, adding a delayed coker and sulfur
recovery facilities to the plant.
Those acquisitions set the stage for
significant increases in refining capacity and an
expanded line of products.
In 1998, the Bakersfield facility became part
of the Shell/Texaco joint venture that created
Equilon Enterprises LLC, one of the largest
refining and marketing operations in the country.
By 1999, Equilon-Bakersfield Refining
Company had reached the milestone of
processing approximately 70,000 barrels of
crude oil per day.
In early 2001, the Equilon-Bakersfield
Refining Company and Northern California's
Equilon-Martinez Refining Company formed the
Bay Valley Refining Complex with combined
processing capacity of approximately 235,000
barrels of crude oil per day.
In the fall of 2001, Shell Oil Company
purchased the Texaco Inc. interest in Equilon
Enterprises LLC following the merger of Texaco
with Chevron.
What began as three separate sites, and with
several owner-operators, continues to advance
its operations as a major downstream facility in
the San Joaquin Valley.
The Processes
Before petroleum is usable, it must go
though the refining process. Facilities like the
Shell Bakersfield Refinery use temperature,
pressure, and catalysts to separate, reshape, and
break apart hydrocarbon molecules to create a
wide range of products.
Crude oil is a complex mixture of hundreds
of such hydrocarbon compounds, composed
mainly of hydrogen and carbon but also
including sulfur, nitrogen and other elements.
These hydrocarbons range in density from
materials as light as natural gas to those as heavy
as road asphalt.
In crude oil, these substances are thoroughly
intermingled. Each compound boils at a
different temperature. Distillation technology
involves heating the hydrocarbon liquids,
separating these substances through boiling the
liquid, condensing vapors, and collecting the
resulting liquids.
Raise the temperature of crude oil and butane
and other light gases detach. If heated further,
gasoline components do the same. This process
continues until only the heaviest hydrocarbon
compounds remain. At each stage, the refinery
takes these "fractions" for processing to get the
most out of a barrel of crude.
The Shell Bakersfield Refinery processes
California's Central Valley heavy crude oil. And
through its specialized refining processes the
plant meets particular challenges to recover
needed products.
These heavy oil-targeted refinery operations
include crude and vacuum distillation,
hydrotreating, hydrocracking, delayed coking,
hydrogen generation, catalytic reforming and
sulfur recovery.
Bottom product from the atmospheric crude
distillation column is the feedstock for the
vacuum distillation facilities. The best method
to get good products from this bottom feed is to
process it under reduced pressure within a
vacuum tower. If the pressure is reduced,
boiling takes place at a lower temperature.
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At lower temperatures, the lighter portion of the
bottom feedstock can be distilled without
cracking.
Hydrocracking takes intermediate oils,
mixes them with hydrogen, and passes the
mixture over a catalyst at high pressure and
moderate temperatures. This process converts
the oils and hydrogen into gasoline and diesel
components.
The delayed coking process converts
hydrocarbon molecules, which are too large for
use in gasoline and diesel, and thermally "cracks"
them down into smaller, usable varieties.
One of nature's additives to hydrocarbons in
crude oil is sulfur. Depending on the source of
the crude, the sulfur content can range from a
tenth-weight percent to about 30 times as great.
The gas oil desulfurization process removes
about 90 percent of the sulfur from the gas oil
feed. The refinery can then use this product in
combination with other available oils to produce
a wide range of low-sulfur fuel oils.
Making sure that the temperatures are
normal, that pressures are satisfactory, and that
liquids are circulating correctly is the
responsibility of the technicians in the control
room. Consoles provide immediate information
on plant processes from the multiple stages of
product refining throughout the complex.
The control room includes a state-of-the-art
alarm system, tracking and shutdown systems on
multiple screens. Such consoles allow operators
to efficiently manage all systems and monitor
the crude process flow from start to finish.
Refinery crude oil, intermediate stocks, and
saleable products are stored on site. The
refinery requires a large storage capacity for
variations in crude supply, process unit
operations, and product demand.
Product blending facilities using large
capacity pumps and proportioning devices blend
various product components. The refinery
blends final diesel and naptha products with
other additives to make gasoline and diesel that
meet specified clean air requirements.
The plant also produces gasoil for use in
fuel oil and for further processing conversion to
gasoline and diesel at other plants. Coke
produced at the refinery is used in cogeneration
and other final markets around the state and the
world.
With the advanced tools of their trade,
laboratory testers ensure the quality and
uniformity of company products. Control of the
finished product begins with crude oil testing
and continues through all phases of the refining
process. It is completed with the quality testing
of finished products.
The Products
Shell Bakersfield Refinery produces three
grades of gasoline (unleaded regular, unleaded
intermediate and unleaded premium). It also
produces diesel fuel, raw gas oil, desulfurized
gas oil, LPG, butane, fuel oil, asphalt, coke,
sulfur, and ammonia.
Within this range of products, fuels
constitute the largest volume of the oil processed
as gasoline and diesel. Motor gasoline is the
major product, using over 36 percent of the
refinery's daily processing of crude oil. Most of
the gasoline is sold in California as a
reformulated product meeting the state's
environmental requirements.
Diesel, the second largest product produced,
using 21.5 percent of the daily crude, is a basic
fuel that busses, boats, farm equipment, train
engines, cars, and trucks use commercially.
The refinery also produces coke which is a
solid carbon substance resembling coal, and is
used as a fuel for utilities and industry.
Large ships use fuel oils as a bunker fuel.
Utility and industrial boilers are also markets for
the thick, heavy liquid fuels.
As a bottled gas, LPG becomes the product
of choice for many recreational vehicles, farm
equipment, and for stoves, water heaters, and
furnaces.
Sulfur, also a product from the crude oil, is
part of the manufacturing process for fertilizers
and acids.
Throughout California and the nation,
business and residential energy users have
critical needs for a variety of products from
refined crude oil. The mission of Shell
Bakersfield Refinery is to provide top quality
refined products to meet the nation's energy
needs.
Safety, Health and the Environment
As a major energy facility in the Central
Valley, Shell Bakersfield Refinery promotes the
health and safety of its employees and others
who work at the plant; protects the environment;
and minimizes impacts on the businesses and
residences near the site. Critical to that success
are both the attitudes and actions of employees.
They know the importance of these
responsibilities for themselves, their co-workers,
and for the surrounding community.
Since employees and the company focus on
health and safety, the plant ranks as one of the
safest refining operations in the nation.
Organizations like the National Petroleum
Refining Association have recognized it's
positive records on safety.
Refinery safety, health and environmental
specialists constantly monitor the workplace,
and employees regularly inspect facilities and
suggest improvements. Included in the program
are training workshops, safety and
environmental studies, drills, seminars,
firefighting workshops, and first-aid instruction.
There are also strict requirements for wearing
proper protective equipment.
Another aspect of the refinery's safety
program is a comprehensive industrial hygiene
program. Professional hygienists provide
guidance in the handling of product and
substances used in local manufacturing. This
staff monitors health surveillance to gather,
evaluate, and store important health data on each
employee.
Should there be a worker injury or illness, a
modem medical facility is located at the facility
and is staffed by a plant nurse who helps
employees with medical problems and questions.
The plant also has professional firefighters
who receive their training from such organizations
as the University of Nevada in Reno and Texas
A & M. They also work closely with local
community firefighting organizations, jointly
attending safety training.
The facility is equally committed to related
air, water, odor, and noise issues within the
environment. Instrumentation accurately
measures emission levels from heaters, boilers,
fuel gas supply sources and sulfur recovery units.
Communications links route emission data
directly to control room operators for continuous
monitoring.
Through pollution control technology,
wastewater treatment facilities, and health and
safety practices, the company has repeatedly
demonstrated it will meet or exceed state as well
as national environmental standards.
To facilitate that process, the plant staff
maintains excellent working relationships with
regulatory agencies monitoring Central
California's natural resources. Refinery
environmental staff regularly meet with these
agencies to ensure that the facility complies with
all laws protecting the air, water, and land.
Community Involvement
Wile the Shell Bakersfield Refinery is
a major processor of petroleum products, it also
plays an major civic role within Bakersfield and
other Central Valley communities.
As an economic force, the plant provides
more than 200 jobs and approximately $30
million annually in payroll. It also pays about
$3 million each year in state and local taxes.
Built on extensive company and employee
involvement, community service is a major
priority. Employees, retirees, and contractors
contribute to the quality of life in Bakersfield
and the surrounding area as participants in a
variety of civic, social, religious, and academic
endeavors. This activity translates into hundreds
of hours of volunteer time and thousands of
dollars in contributions from both the company
and individuals.
For several years, the "Fueling Up for the
Fight" employee team has participated in the
Bakersfield area American Cancer Society
"Relay for Life". This annual, two-day team
relay event involves employee efforts to raise
funds to support cancer research and education.
Other activities include scheduling blood
drives, providing a site for community drop-off
recycling, helping to build homes for Habitat
for Humanity, participating in health fairs,
supporting Alzheimer research, assisting Toys
for Tots, serving at the Bakersfield Rescue
Mission, helping to honor Beautiful Bakersfield
winners.
These activities represent a creative
relationship, a significant contribution to the
community, and an enthusiastic working together
to solve the mutual challenges in the local area.
Another refinery initiative is to keep
Bakersfield and the Central Valley informed of
what is happening at the refinery. An expanded
Public Affairs function serves as a link to the
surrounding area. In this liaison role, Public
Affairs provides information on plant activities
to neighbors, key community leaders, the news
media, elected officials and others.
Working with a community advisory panel
of civic and business representatives, Public
Affairs monitors community attitudes, concerns,
and issues critical to both the local plant and the
management of Shell Oil Products US.
Shell Bakersfield Refinery
In January 1998, Shell Oil and Texaco formed
Equilon Enterprises LLC. This joint venture was
a refining and marketing powerhouse for the
West and Midwest. As a major division of this
alliance, the Bakersfield plant became the
Equilon-Bakersfield Refining Company.
In October 2001, Shell Oil Products
Company acquired the Texaco interest in the
Equilon Alliance.
Now Shell Oil Products US west coast
refining and marketing operations include three
other refineries, two in California, in Los
Angeles and Martinez, and a third at Anacortes
in Washington. Combined crude oil processing
at the four facilities approaches approximately
500,000 barrels per day.
Refining is a vital element of Shell Oil
Products US business and a major factor in its
presence in California. Every phase of its
operation is found in the state from refining to
marketing.
The movement of oil from well to company
refineries and the delivery of product from
refinery to service station are achieved by a
comprehensive transportation system including
ocean tankers, railcars, barges, thousands of
miles of pipeline, storage terminals and tanker
trucks. More than 9,000 Shell service stations,
the company's main connection with consumers,
are in California.
Shell Oil Products US refines and markets
gasoline and other petroleum products under the
Shell brand name in all or part of 31 western
states. A major part of that mission is supplying
the energy needs of California and the West.
The Shell Bakersfield Refinery works around
the clock to meet this goal. It is a vital facility
for California and the West and is fully
committed to serving your energy needs.
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Shell Bakersfield Refinery
P.O. Box 1476
Bakersfield, CA 93302