CHS Inc., St. Paul, Minn., will boost refining capacity at the 85,000 b/d National Cooperative Refinery Association facility at McPherson, Kan., to 100,000 b/d by 2016 in a $327 million project.
CHS, which is in the process of acquiring 100% ownership of the McPherson refinery from Growmark Inc., Bloomington, Ill., and MFA Oil, Columbia, Mo., said the expansion will start this spring. Completion will take place in phases during the second half of calendar 2015 and the first months of 2016, with production coming on line in early 2016.
The expansion will occur alongside construction of a $555 million replacement coker already in progress (OGJ, Dec. 3, 2012, p. 100). The McPherson refinery will continue to operate normally during both projects.
The latest expansion brings to more than $1.4 billion the investments CHS has made or committed to over the past 24 months to expand and upgrade its refining, pipeline, and distribution system in order to further strengthen dependable supplies of quality refined fuels to its owners and customers.
CHS said the additional refined fuels produced will be equally divided between diesel and gasoline and will allow CHS to better match production from McPherson and its 55,000 b/d Laurel, Mont., refinery with customer demand.
