Ohio
With 2021 marking 102 years of operations, the bp-Husky Toledo refinery is focused on safety, efficiency and sustainability as it looks ahead to the next chapter in its long history
Fast facts
- The bp-Husky Toledo refinery can process up to 160,000 barrels of crude oil each day, providing the Midwest with gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, propane, asphalt and other products.
- On a daily basis, the refinery produces 3.8 million gallons of gasoline, 1.3 million gallons of diesel fuel and 600,000 gallons of jet fuel.
- bp’s retail presence in Ohio includes more than 500 retail locations.
The bp-Husky Toledo refinery has been a cornerstone of the Ohio economy for more than 100 years, supplying fuels to the Midwest, supporting thousands of jobs and investing in the community.
In recent years, the refinery — located in Oregon, Ohio — has experienced a number of major improvements to make it fit for the future. In 2019, the refinery team completed a significant maintenance project — called a turnaround — to improve reliability and help the facility maintain safe and reliable operations for years to come.
The turnaround project importantly repaired the refinery’s isocracker, a key unit for upgrading crude products into high-value transport fuels. Additional turnarounds were completed in 2021, with another one scheduled for 2022.
During a large turnaround project, the refinery brings in an extra 2,000 or more qualified contractors to work alongside its regular personnel.
Recently, the Toledo refinery has also commissioned two projects to help improve the environmental performance of its operations:
- A new $115 million coker gas plant removes both sulfur and light hydrocarbon compounds from the gas produced in the coker units. This process results in fewer emissions from the refinery’s furnaces and optimizes the fuel mix to use a greater proportion of cleaner-burning gas.
- An $18 million project at both coker units reduces the amount of emissions during a cleaning process.
Established in 1919 by Standard Oil of Ohio, the Toledo refinery is operated by bp as part of a joint venture with Cenovus Energy Inc. It has been a significant factor in the strength of the northern Ohio economy since the day it processed its first barrel of oil.
The refinery has provided jobs and economic security for thousands of people; in some cases, two or three generations of families have made their careers at the facility. The entire refinery team is focused on safe operations.
“Our number one goal on our safety journey is that everyone goes home safely every day,” says refinery manager Des Gillen. “We achieve this by staying mindful of what is going on around us and asking everyone on site to act as a safety leader every day.”
The Toledo refinery helps cultivate America’s next generation of engineers and technicians through partnerships with a variety of educational programs and institutions, ranging from kindergarten to higher education.
For example, it sponsors programs at the University of Toledo to give local students the opportunity to pursue engineering. Over the past decade, bp has also contributed over $500,000 to downtown Toledo’s nonprofit Imagination Station science museum.
