Chevron U.S.A, a subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, has begun commercial production of base oils from its new manufacturing facility located at the company’s Pascagoula refinery.
The premium base oils produced at the plant will add to the company’s existing capacity at its refinery in Richmond, California, positioning Chevron to become the world’s largest producer of base oil. The oil will supply customers in the eastern US, Europe and Latin America and the Richmond plant will continue to supply for the western US.
The facility manufactures 25,000 barrels per day of the base oil, which helps countries all over the world meet the strict regulatory requirements and higher performance standards for lubricants. Base oil is the main ingredient for top-tier motor oils that improve fuel economy, lower tail-pipe emissions and extend the time between oil changes. The new facility uses Chevron’s proprietary ISODEWAXING® technology that was made in 1993. The technology helps to create higher yields and enables a broader range of crude oil to be used in the manufacturing process. Over half of the world’s premium base oil is manufactured with this technology through licensing agreements with Chevron.