the refining process

The refining process

Refineries play an important role in powering the world forward. Oil refineries take crude oil and refine it into products that we use every day. 

The Chevron Salt Lake Refinery takes crude oil and other feedstocks and refines it into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), petroleum coke and sulfur. The refinery has a processing capacity of approximately 55,000 barrels (2.3 million gallons) of crude oil per day.

Refining crude oil into transportation fuels and other products is a complex process involving many steps. The key steps include:

  • Separation: Crude oil is separated into different parts based on the size of the molecules.
  • Treatment: Using hydrogen and catalyst, natural impurities are removed from crude oil.
  • Cracking: Large molecules of crude oil are broken into smaller molecules that make up different transportation fuels.